Sunisa Lee Wins Women’s Individual All-Around Final; Rebeca Andrade Takes a Historic Silver for Brazil; Angelina Melnikova Takes Bronze in Gymnastics at Tokyo Olympics

Sunisa Lee Wins Women’s Individual All-Around Final; Rebeca Andrade Takes a Historic Silver for Brazil; Angelina Melnikova Takes Bronze in Gymnastics at Tokyo Olympics

Sunia Lee wins gold in women's individual all-around finals

In a tight and historic women’s individual all-around finals, the world watched on, as USA’s Sunisa Lee took home the the gold medal, after a tough and challenging all around finals. Rebeca Andrade gave it her all, and won a silver medal. She created history for Brazil by becoming the first female gymnast to ever win a medal at the Olympics, and the first Brazilian gymnast to win an Individual all around medal. Angelina Melnikova of ROC took a well deserved bronze after leading her team to the gold medal victory just a few days ago.

Sunisa Lee started off her first rotation on one of her weaker events, the vault where she scored a 14.600. Andrade, a total powerhouse on vault, started things off strong, with the highest vault score of the finals, a 15.300 taking an early and dominant lead. Melnikova performed a solid vault and scored a 14.633, taking the second position, while Lee remained in third.

The second rotation saw Sunisa dominate the uneven bars, registering the highest score of the competition, a 15.300 and had made up for the deficit in vault. Rebeca Andrade scored a solid 14.666 maintaining a slim lead over Lee. Melnikova continued to maintain her bronze medal position, with a beautiful bars routine that scored a 14.900.

In the third round, the standings switched, and Andrade was third with a score of 13.666. Sunisa took the first position with a strong performance of 13.833. Melnikova lost her ranking despite scoring a 13.700. It was her teammate, Vladislava Urazova, who was in third after the third rotation, scoring a 14.200, the highest of the women’s individual all-around finals.

Rebeca Andrade Creates History for Brazil, becomes the first gymnast to win a medal in the women’s individual all-around finals

Rebeca Andrade wins silver in women's individual all-around finals
Rebeca Andrade wins silver in women’s individual all-around finals

The fourth rotation ended in a nail biting finish, as Urazova gave a strong performance of 13.400. However Melnikova’s 13.966 meant that she would overtake her teammate and eventually win the bronze medal. Suni Lee was up second to last, and although she did not have the most difficult routine, she gave one of her cleanest performances of the Olympics, scoring a 13.700.

Andrade needed a 13.800 to win the women’s individual all-around finals. However, she stepped out of bounds twice in her power packed floor routine, earning a 13.666, enough to get her the silver medal. This meant that Sunisa Lee became the women’s individual all around champion, a historic moment after the uncertainty faced by the US team as Simone Biles pulled out of the competition.

Melnikova’s teammate Vladislava finished in fourth place at her debut Olympics, while Mai Murakami of Japan had an exceptional finals, finishing fifth. Belgium’s Nina Darwael finished sixth, and China’s Tang Xijing, after a disappointing performance, could only manage to finish seventh.

Also read: ROC, Japan and China bag medals in men’s artistic all-around gymnastics; USA lose out