Russia’s Tutkhalian leads gymnastics, China top team
The U.S. Women’s Gymnastics Team has started their quest for gold at the Rio Olympics with the qualification round and if these early routines are any indication, the U.S. team is going to dominate. The 16 year-old, Laurie Hernandez is the youngest Olympian on the team and has unbelievable skills.
North Korea’s Hong Un-Jong, the 2008 Olympic champion and 2014 world champion on vault, could also be a threat. The “A” score measures the difficulty of the routine and the “B” score deducts points based on mistakes, with final scores ranging from 13 to 15 and medal-winning scores rising above 16.
During the individual all-around competition at the 2012 London Olympics, the average score for gymnasts choosing a degree of difficulty between 5.5 and six was 14. She is ready to lead the USA women to gold in Rio, and claim her place in history as possibly the greatest of all time.
The top 24 gymnasts advance to Thursday’s all-around final with eight nations qualify for Tuesday’s team final.
First-time Olympian is the favorite to take home gold medal in all-around gymnastics event.
“It’s a very good to combine experience with newcomers”, said the 73-year-old.
Britain, the world team bronze medallists from Glasgow a year ago, are ready to challenge for a first women’s Olympic team medal since 1928. “We’re hoping to get a medal as a team”.
Russia’s Aliya Mustafina won all-around bronze in London, and with China’s Shang Chunsong and Giulia Steingruber of Switzerland is expected to challenge for an all-around medal. Men compete on six: vault, floor, high bars, parallel bars, pommel horse and rings. Fortunately for the Rio fans, Saraiva’s consistency across all four events and prowess on balance beam should be able to secure her a spot in the all-around final and even a top 10 finish for the Rio native.
If you want to watch the US women’s gymnastics qualifications, tune in at 4:30 p.m. ET on NBC.