Gymnastics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's balance beam

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Main article: Gymnastics at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Women's balance beam
at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
Gymnastics (artistic) pictogram.svg
Olympic artistic gymnastics
VenueAriake Gymnastics Centre
Dates25 July 2021 (qualifying)
3 August 2021 (final)
Competitors8 from 6 nations
Winning score14.633 points
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Guan Chenchen  China
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Tang Xijing  China
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Simone Biles  United States
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Gymnastics at the
2020 Summer Olympics
List of gymnasts
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Uneven barswomen
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The women's balance beam event at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held on 25 July and 3 August 2021 at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre.[1] Approximately 90 gymnasts from 53 nations (of the 98 total gymnasts) are expected to compete on the balance beam in the qualifying round.[2]

Guan Chenchen and Tang Xijing of China won the gold and silver medals, respectively, both earning their first Olympic medals. Simone Biles of the United States, performing a scaled-down routine, repeated her bronze medal performance from 2016 for her seventh Olympic medal. Biles' 32 combined World and Olympic medals tied her with Larisa Latynina of the Soviet Union as the most decorated female gymnasts of all time. It was Biles' only finals appearance after a week where she withdrew from all other events due to mental health concerns. The defending champion, Sanne Wevers, did not qualify for the event.

The medals for the competition were presented by Anita L. Defrantz, United States; IOC Vice-President, and the medalists' bouquets were presented by Vasily Titov, Russia; FIG Vice-President.

Background[]

This was the 19th appearance of the event, after making its debut at the 1952 Summer Olympics. Defending champion Sanne Wevers of the Netherlands did not qualify to the final; she was instead the third reserve.[3] Simone Biles of the United States, the defending bronze medalist, made her only finals appearance of the Olympics following withdrawals from the team final, the individual all-around final, the vault, uneven bars, and floor event finals due to mental health concerns.[4]

Qualification[]

Main article: Gymnastics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 6 qualified gymnasts: a team of 4 and up to 2 specialists. A total of 98 quota places are allocated to women's gymnastics.

The 12 teams that qualify will be able to send 4 gymnasts in the team competition, for a total of 48 of the 98 quota places. The top three teams at the 2018 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships (the United States, Russia, and China) and the top nine teams (excluding those already qualified) at the 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships (France, Canada, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Japan, and Spain) earned team qualification places.

The remaining 50 quota places are awarded individually. Each gymnast can only earn one place, except that gymnasts that competed with a team that qualified are eligible to earn a second place through the 2020 All Around World Cup Series. Some of the individual events are open to gymnasts from NOCs with qualified teams, while others are not. These places are filled through various criteria based on the 2019 World Championships, the 2020 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup series, continental championships, a host guarantee, and a Tripartite Commission invitation.

Each of the 98 qualified gymnasts are eligible for the balance beam competition, but many gymnasts do not compete in each of the apparatus events.

The COVID-19 pandemic delayed many of the events for qualifying for gymnastics. The 2018 and 2019 World Championships were completed on time, but many of the World Cup series events were delayed into 2021.

Competition format[]

The top 8 qualifiers in the qualification phase (limit two per NOC) advance to the apparatus final. The finalists performed on the balance beam again. Qualification scores were then ignored, with only final round scores counting.

Schedule[]

The competition will be held over two days, 25 July and 3 August. The qualifying round (for all women's gymnastics events) was the first day; the balance beam final is on the third and final day of individual event finals.[1]

Date Time Round Subdivision
25 July 10:00 Qualification Subdivision 1
11:50 Subdivision 2
15:10 Subdivision 3
17:05 Subdivision 4
20:20 Subdivision 5
3 August 17:50 Final –
All times are local time (UTC+09:00).

Results[]

Qualifying[]

Main article: Gymnastics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's artistic qualification
Rank Gymnast D Score E Score Pen. Total Results
1  Guan Chenchen (CHN) 6.9 8.033 14.933 Q
2  Tang Xijing (CHN) 6.2 8.133 14.333 Q
3  Sunisa Lee (USA) 6.2 8.000 14.200 Q
4  Larisa Iordache (ROU) 6.2 7.933 14.133 Q W[5]
5  Lu Yufei (CHN) 6.0 8.100 14.100 –
6  Ellie Black (CAN) 6.3 7.800 14.100 Q
7  Simone Biles (USA) 6.5 7.566 14.066 Q
8  Vladislava Urazova (ROC) 5.8 8.200 14.000 Q
9  Flávia Saraiva (BRA) 5.9 8.066 13.966 Q
10  Zhang Jin (CHN) 6.0 7.966 13.966 –
11  Ou Yushan (CHN) 5.9 8.033 13.933 –
12  Urara Ashikawa (JPN) 5.9 8.000 13.900 R1 S
13  Viktoria Listunova (ROC) 5.6 8.266 13.866 R2
14  Sanne Wevers (NED) 5.8 8.066 13.866 R3
Reserves

The reserves for the women's balance beam final were:

  1.  Urara Ashikawa (JPN) – called up after Larisa Iordache's withdrawal [5]
  2.  Viktoria Listunova (ROC)
  3.  Sanne Wevers (NED)

Only two gymnasts from each country may advance to the event final. Gymnasts who did not qualify for the final because of the quota, but had high enough scores to do so were:

Final[]

Oldest and youngest competitors

Name Country Date of birth Age
Youngest Guan Chenchen  China 25 September 2004 16 years, 10 months and 9 days
Oldest Ellie Black  Canada 8 September 1995 25 years, 10 months and 26 days
Rank Gymnast D Score E Score Pen. Total
1st place, gold medalist(s)  Guan Chenchen (CHN) 6.6 8.033 14.633
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Tang Xijing (CHN) 6.0 8.233 14.233
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  Simone Biles (USA) 6.1 7.900 14.000
4  Ellie Black (CAN) 6.2 7.666 13.866
5  Sunisa Lee (USA) 6.4 7.466 13.866
6  Urara Ashikawa (JPN) 5.9 7.833 13.733
7  Flávia Saraiva (BRA) 5.7 7.433 13.133
8  Vladislava Urazova (ROC) 5.0 7.733 12.733

Fourth- and fifth-place finishers Ellie Black and Sunisa Lee, respectively, finished with identical scores of 13.866. According the FIG's tie-breaking procedure, Black earned the higher placement due to higher E-score (7.666 vs 7.466).

[6]

References[]

  1. ^ a b "Artistic Gymnastics Competition Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  2. ^ "Qualification System – Games of the XXXII Olympiad – Artistic Gymnastics" (PDF). International Gymnastics Federation. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  3. ^ "Titelverdedigster Sanne Wevers mist balkfinale, geen finaleplaatsen turnsters" [Title defender Sanne Wevers misses beam final, no final places for the gymnasts]. NOS (in Dutch). 25 July 2021.
  4. ^ Graves, Will (2 August 2021). "American star Simone Biles to return for balance beam finals". Associated Press.
  5. ^ a b Lazăr, Mihnea (3 August 2021). "Larisa Iordache s-a retras din finala de la bârnă la Jocurile Olimpice Tokyo 2020" [Larisa Iordache retired from the beam final at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics]. Digi24 (in Romanian).
  6. ^ "Artistic Gymnastics: Women's Balance Beam Final – Results" (PDF). International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
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