AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko
After falling short of gold in the women’s individual all-around, Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade earned redemption Sunday by winning a gold medal in the vault at the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Andrade’s score of 15.083 topped the field, while Team USA’s MyKayla Skinner won silver with a score of 14.916 and South Korea’s Seojeong Yeo took bronze at 14.733.
Olympics.com provided a rundown of how the rest of the field fared:
4. Alexa Moreno (MEX): 14.716
5. Angelina Melnikova (ROC): 14.683
6. Liliia Akhaimova (ROC): 14.666
7. Shallon Olsen (CAN): 14.550
8. Jade Carey (USA): 12.416
Andrade had a chance to win the first Olympic gold medal ever for Brazil in women’s gymnastics as part of the individual all-around and held the lead entering the final rotation.
After stepping out of bounds twice during her floor exercise, however, Andrade had to settle for silver behind Team USA’s Suni Lee.
Still, it was the first Olympic medal of any kind for Brazil in women’s gymnastics, and it set the stage for her to bounce back in the vault.
Telegraph Women’s Sport noted that Andrade overcame a great deal of adversity in her career on the injury front in order to achieve her golden moment:
Telegraph Women’s Sport @WomensSport
Rebeca Andrade makes history at <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tokyo2020?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#Tokyo2020</a> for Brazil!! <br><br>Brazil’s first female Olympic champion in gymnastics. Andrade has come back from three ACL tears in her career. This is an incredible comeback ????????????<a href=”https://t.co/LWM9Vk9i1i”>https://t.co/LWM9Vk9i1i</a> <a href=”https://t.co/tILee0zKzV”>pic.twitter.com/tILee0zKzV</a>
The most unlikely medalist in Sunday’s vault competition was Skinner, who thought her Olympics were over one week ago when she failed to qualify for the vault final.
With teammate and 2016 Olympic vault gold medalist Simone Biles pulling out of the event to focus on her mental health, however, Skinner was named the replacement since her qualification score would have been good enough to make it if not for the rule limited each country to no more than two finalists in each event.
Skinner made the most of her second chance and thanked her family and fans following her silver medal-winning performance:
Team USA @TeamUSA
Delivered big time. <br><br>A message from vault silver medalist <a href=”https://twitter.com/mykaylaskinner?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@mykaylaskinner</a>. ♥️ <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/TokyoOlympics?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#TokyoOlympics</a> <a href=”https://t.co/SM8Udc5Hay”>pic.twitter.com/SM8Udc5Hay</a>
Kyla Ross, who won team gold with the United States at the 2012 Summer Olympics, was among those who congratulated Skinner:
Skinner’s silver was the third medal of the 2021 Summer Olympics for Team USA, as the Americans won team silver and Lee won the individual all-around. Lee added a bronze to Team USA’s haul later Sunday in the uneven bars.
Another American, Jade Carey, competed in the vault final as well, but she stumbled during her run toward the vault and could not complete her planned jump. Carey finished eighth in the event.
Carey will have a chance to bounce back Monday in the floor exercise final, while Lee and Biles are scheduled to compete in the balance beam final Tuesday.
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