A total of 26 rhythmic gymnasts were narrowed down to 10 after the first day of individual competition at the Rio Olympics. And surprisingly Russian-Bengali gymnast Margarita Mamun took the top spot with her scintillating display on the field.
Margarita, also known as The Bengal Tiger, scored 74.383 points after four rotations and will be favourite when she will take the field for the final in the midnight (Bangladesh Time) today. Mamun briefly competed for Bangladesh but returned to representing of Russia as a senior.
In the preliminary session, every gymnast who qualified for the Olympics performed four routines, one each using the ball, hoop, ribbon and clubs apparatus. The athletes with the top 10 combined scores will advance to tomorrow morning’s final, where they will again perform four routines in pursuit of Olympic medals.
Current world champion Yana Kudryavtseva arrived in Rio as the reigning and three-time world all-around champion. She’ maintaining her spot at the top of the sport since 2013, when at 15 years old she became the youngest ever all-around world champion.
In the second half, she had regained her composure and moved into second place. But she couldn’t catch up with Margarita, her close friend, training partner and long-time rival.
Also Russian, Margarita claimed the top qualifying spot by 0.385 points. She was the only gymnast to receive two scores of 19 or more points (out of 20), for her ball and ribbon routine. If she hadn’t dropped one of her clubs and almost lost it out of bounds, her lead could have been significantly larger.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
