The Team GB women’s gymnastics team have made three Olympic finals after qualification in Rio.
The team of Ellie Downie, Becky Downie, Ruby Harrold, Claudia Fragapane and Amy Tinkler finished with a team total of 174.064 which placed them in 4th and earns them a place in the team final which takes place on Tuesday evening.
Individually, Ellie Downie placed highest for GB in the all-around event (for the gymnasts that competed on all four apparatus, top 24 made the final), she finished with 56.466 in 24th. Ellie impressed first on the bars and went on to beam to score a strong 14.500. On the floor she was looking strong until she landed awkwardly on her shoulder and neck after one of her passes and was unable to continue her routine. After a thorough assessment by British Gymnastics medical staff to ensure she was safe to return to vault, she bravely did so, to complete her qualification and help the team in to the final.
Amy Tinkler was a rock for the team competing vault, beam and floor strongly. Her beam routine was solid scoring 14.500 and her floor was even more impressive where she scored 14.600 to send the youngest member of Team GB in to the Olympic final.
Ruby Harrold was as confident and consistent as ever for the team, scoring a particularly strong 14.800 on the bars. Claudia Fragapane competed on all apparatus and just missed the all-around final scoring 55.032, her floor being the highlight (14.333) after counting falls on both the bars and beam. Becky Downie performed a difficult bar routine but unfortunately hit her feet on the bar on a release move and although she still scored an impressive 15.233 it was not quite enough to give her a place in the final.
Ellie Downie: "I missed my tumble and landed on the top of my back and felt a bit shaky so decided not to compete my final pass. I left the arena and the medical staff gave me a look over, I felt fine and refocused for vault no problem. Overall it was a mixed competition for us some great routines and a few mistakes. We have to wait and see in terms of finals but we all put everything in to it. The pride of competing in such an amazing atmosphere for Team GB was huge"
Amy said after: "That was the most incredible experience of my life! The crowd were so loud it was amazing. I'm really happy with my competition and the team as a whole battled really well."
Final results can be found on the official Olympic website. - https://www.rio2016.com/en/artistic-gymnastics-womens-qualification-subdivision-5
