As Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar scripted history as she became the first Indian to make the cut for the individual vault finals in her debut Olympic Games, here’s a look at her competitors.
1. Simone Biles (USA)
Already securing a gold medal in team all-round gymnastics in the Rio Games, this three-time World champion secured her spot in the individual vaults event finishing top of the charts and is a clear favourite for gold.
2. Jong Un Hong (Korea)
The Beijing Olympic champion who won 2008 Gold in the Beijing Games had also beaten Biles in the 2014. But Hong was in the centre of controversy when she was banned for the 2012 for misappropriating her age in the 1989 Athens Olympics.
3. Giulia Steingruber (Switzerland)
The winner of the 2015 European all-around, Steingruber has also won the senior floor exercise and vault titles at the European Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Championships held in her home turf.
4. Maria Paseka (Russia)
Although currently unsettled since her back injury and far from her best, Paseka had beaten Biles in the Vault’s event at the 2015 World Championships. To her credit, she had won Bronze in 2012 Olympics.
5. Oksana Chusovitina (Uzbekistan)
The oldest athlete to participae in the Games, Chusovitina who is in her seventh Olympics had won silver in the 2008 Games and a total tally of 10 medals in the World Championships.
6. Shallon Olsen (Canada)
Just 16, Olsen was made to be part of the senior team after having a formidable juniors career. In 2014 she won silver in team and floor exercise to go with a bronze on vault at the Pacific Rim Championships.
7. Wang Yan (China)
Yan who finished seventh in the last round had already won the bronze medal in the team event. She has won two gold at the Youth Olympic medals in 2014 and won two golds, two silvers and a bronze at the Asian Championships in Hiroshima.
The Tripura-girl, who is the country’s first woman gymnast to qualify for the Olympics finishing 8th in the qualifying round, managed to perform her much-appreciated ‘Produnova’ vault cleanly to secure 14.850 points after two attempts.
It was a nervous wait for the Indian after that. She had ended sixth after the third of five sub-divisions.
She dropped to 8th eventually when Canadian Shallon Olsen’s terrific effort of 14.950 rejigged the overall standings.
But that was just about enough to secure her a place in the finals scheduled for August 14 as the top-8 made the cut for the medal around.