Artistic Gymnastics 2016 Rio Olympic Review

Men’s Team All-Around

Japan was utterly dominant, winning by almost three points. They only finished outside the top three in one discipline, the pommel horse. They won three of six disciplines and were led by Kōhei Uchimura, who scored over 15 points five times. Two teams finished on 271 points to take the other medals. Russia was incredibly consistent, whilst China was boosted by incredible parallel bars routines that saw them score 47.886. Great Britain perform well in the horizontal bars and the pommel horse, but didn’t have the consistency to get a medal.

🥇Japan 🇯🇵

🥈Russia 🇷🇺

🥉China 🇨🇳

Men’s Individual All-Around

Kōhei Uchimura (Japan) proved himself to be a legend of the sport and arguably the greatest ever male gymnast. It did not come easily though, as he trailed Oleg Verniaiev (Ukraine) by 0.9 heading into the final rotation. He nailed the high bar to secure the victory by just 0.099, the first time since 2014 he’d won by less than 1.5points. The two Chinese contestants, Lin Chaopan (China) and Deng Shudi (China) were too inconsistent to challenge, with Max Whitlock (Great Britain) instead battling David Belyavskiy (Russia) for bronze. That came down to the weaker events, with the rings of Belyavskiy only scoring 14.533.

🥇Kōhei Uchimura 🇯🇵

🥈Oleg Verniaiev 🇺🇦

🥉Max Whitlock 🇬🇧

Men’s Floor Exercise

Sam Mikulak (United States) led qualification with a 15.8, ahead of compatriot Jacob Dalton (United States). Kōhei Uchimura (Japan) lurked in third, while Kenzō Shirai (Japan) had the highest difficulty score and just needed to improve the execution. Shirai struggled again with the execution, in the final, scoring 15.366 after struggling with his tumbling passes. The best execution came from Kristian Thomas (Great Britain) with an 8.858, but his difficulty was low. Instead, Max Whitlock (Great Britain) who had a high difficulty and solid execution took gold.

🥇Max Whitlock 🇬🇧

🥈Diego Hypólito 🇧🇷

🥉Arthur Mariano 🇧🇷

Men’s Horizontal Bar

Fabian Hambüchen (Germany) led qualification with his high-difficulty routine. Danell Levya (United States) has a similar difficulty but could not execute to the same standard. The best execution came from Sam Mikulak (United States) and Nile Wilson (Great Britain), but their difficulty let them down. In the final, it came down to difficulty level as Hambüchen took the gold medal over Leyva. The battle for bronze saw Wilson edge Mikulak by 0.066. Epke Zonderland (Netherlands) turned down the difficulty in the final, but his execution was nowhere near the necessary level.

🥇Fabian Hambuchen 🇩🇪

🥈Danell Levya 🇺🇸

🥉Nile Wilson 🇬🇧

Men’s Parallel Bars

The Chinese qualified strongly, with three of the top six led by Deng Shudi (China). At the top of the qualification was Oleg Verniaiev (Ukraine), who scored over 16 with his routine. In the final, neither Chinese competitor executed well. The highest execution score came from Danell Levya (United States) to win silver. Ahead of him was the dominant figure of Verniaiev, once again scoring over 16.

🥇Oleg Verniaiev 🇺🇦

🥈Danell Levya 🇺🇸

🥉David Belyavskiy 🇷🇺

Men’s Pommel Horse

The two Brits topped qualification, with Max Whitlock (Great Britain) ahead of Louis Smith (Great Britain) by 0.1. Whitlock increased his difficulty heading into the final to 7.2. Alexander Naddour (United States) led the final after also increasing his difficulty before the two Brits competed. Smith was first up and improved on both scores from qualification, scoring 15.833. Whitlock was the final man to go and after an anxious wait, was called the winner, overhauling his teammate with a 15.966 score.

🥇Max Whitlock 🇬🇧

🥈Louis Smith 🇬🇧

🥉Alexander Naddour 🇺🇸

Men’s Rings

Liu Yang (China) led qualification over Eleftherios Petrounias (Greece). You Hao (China) had the highest difficulty score but could only get himself into third. Samir Ait Said (France) missed the final despite qualifying as he broke his leg, while Yuri van Gelder (Netherlands) was suspended by the team for drinking. The final came down to the best execution, with the top three in execution finishing 1-2-3.

🥇Eleftherios Petrounias 🇬🇷

🥈Arthur Zanetti 🇧🇷

🥉Denis Ablyazin 🇷🇺

Men’s Vault

Ri Se-gwang (North Korea) topped qualification, the only vaulter to do two vaults with a 6.4 difficulty. In the final, he and two others started with a 6.4 difficulty vault. It was Kenzō Shirai (Japan) who led with 15.833, ahead of Se-gwang and Denis Ablyazin (Russia). Oleg Verniaiev (Ukraine) sat in fourth, while Ihor Radivilov (Ukraine) attempted a high-difficulty vault but failed to execute well. Shirai scored 9.466 for the execution of his second vault, but a low difficulty saw him overtaken. He was pulled back into a tie for third with Marian Dragulescu (Romania), but won by virtue of his first vault.

🥇Ri Se-gwang 🇰🇵

🥈Denis Ablyazin 🇷🇺

🥉Kenzō Shirai 🇯🇵

Women’s Team All-Around

Qualification showed just how strong the United States team were, scoring 185.238, almost ten points more than any other team. It showed how close the rest of the medal race would be as four teams - China, Russia, Brazil and Great Britain - finished within 1.250 of each other. The United States was just as dominant in the final, although not quite managing the same score. They managed to lead in every discipline. Russia came in second, backed by Alina Mustifina’s score on the uneven bars. The performance of China on the balance beam, saw them pull away from Japan and Great Britain to win bronze.

🥇United States of America 🇺🇸

🥈Russia 🇷🇺

🥉China 🇨🇳

Women’s Individual All-Around

It was clear in qualification that Simone Biles (United States) was a level above. She led by almost two points and scored over 15 on every discipline, with only four other competitors managing to score 15 on one discipline. Gabby Douglas (United States) missed out on qualification for the final despite finishing third overall in qualification because of the two-per-country rule. Biles did not quite reach the same levels in the final, but she did not need to, as Aly Raisman (United States) did not raise her levels. Aliya Mustafina (Russia) relied on brilliant scores in the vault and uneven bars to beat the consistency of Elsabeth Black (Canada) and Shang Chungsong (China), who only scored 13.833 in the vault.

🥇Simone Biles 🇺🇸

🥈Aly Raisman 🇺🇸

🥉Aliya Mustafina 🇷🇺

Women’s Vault

No one could match the execution of Simone Biles (United States) in qualification, as she scored 9.7 in both rounds. Hong Un-jong (North Korea) trailed by 0.3 points in qualification. Also executing well was Giulia Steingruber (Switzerland), while Dipa Karmakar (India) had high difficulty without executing well. Biles once again did not quite perform as well in the final, but she had a comfortable margin over her opponents. Four women scored over 15 in the first round of the final, with Un-jong leading the charge behind Biles, attempting a Triple Twisting Yurchenko. The second round saw four again score more than 15, but other than Biles it was only Maria Paseka (Russia) who managed it in both rounds.

🥇Simone Biles 🇺🇸

🥈Maria Paseka 🇷🇺

🥉Giulia Steingruber 🇨🇭

Women’s Floor Exercise

America was once dominant, with four of the top nine in qualification. Simone Biles (United States) led by almost 0.500 points ahead of Aly Raisman (United States), with Laurie Hernandez (United States) in fourth and Gabby Douglas (United States) in ninth. In the final, Biles performed a more challenging routine and executed it better, helping to her an unassailable lead. Raisman finished comfortably behind her to win silver. In third was Amy Tinkler (Great Britain) who, like Biles, managed to improve her difficulty and execution scores in the final. Behind her, Vanessa Ferrari (Italy) failed to match her execution score from the qualification rounds, costing her the bronze.

🥇Simone Biles 🇺🇸

🥈Aly Raisman 🇺🇸

🥉Amy Tinkler 🇬🇧

Women’s Uneven Bars

Qualification was a tight affair, with six athletes qualifying within 0.500 of each other, led by Madison Kocian (United States). The high difficulties of Fan Yilin (China) and Becky Downie (Great Britain) did not help them to make the final, with execution scores looking more important. It was that way again in the final, as the two gymnasts with execution scores over nine were the top two on the podium. It was Aliya Mustafina (Russia) who edged out Kocian to take the gold medal. The bronze was won by Sophie Scheder (Germany), who once again posted a high execution score. Gabby Douglas (United States) and Daria Spiridonova (Russia) were no doubt disappointed, as they could have medalled if they matched their scores from qualification.

🥇Aliya Mustafina 🇷🇺

🥈Madison Kocian 🇺🇸

🥉Sophie Scheder 🇩🇪

Women’s Balance Beam

Once again America was so strong that two worthy competitors, Gabby Douglas (United States) and Aly Raisman (United States), missed out on the final. Simone Biles (United States) led qualification, but in the final, her execution let her down. Laurie Hernandez (United States) would have been the favourite without Biles, but instead it was Sanne Wevers (Netherlands) who increased her difficulty in the final, taking her into the gold medal spot. It was a case of what may have been for Flavia Saravia (Brazil), who scored over 0.5 less in the final than in qualification, costing her a medal. Marine Boyer (France) finished fourth and attempted to appeal her score, however, the appeal was not granted.

🥇Sanne Wevers 🇳🇱

🥈Laurie Hernandez 🇺🇸

🥉Simone Biles 🇺🇸