Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade on Saturday won gold in the women’s vault at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Antwerp after the US’ Simone Biles fell and was denied another win.
Biles won her 21st World Championships gold medal in Friday’s all-around event, with Andrade, the reigning champion, finishing second, vut the order was reversed on Saturday as a near flawless Andrade won by a margin of 0.201 points.
Yet the silver still extended Biles’ record tally of World and Olympic medals to 35.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“I didn’t expect this, of course in my head I always want to win but the primary goal is to do my thing. I don’t know if I can believe it but it was something that I really wanted,” Andrade said.
Biles over-rotated her signature Yurchenko double pike — which is to be renamed the Biles II — and fell backward on the mat on landing.
“I didn’t expect Simone to fall, so I feel sad for her, because I know how much we train for this,” Andrade said.
The American also took a half-point deduction because her coach stood on the mat as a precaution, ready to assist in case of an accident.
After scoring 15.000 points with her first vault, Andrade then pulled off a double twisting Yurchenko.
Biles also took part in the uneven bars final, but finished fifth in the event won by 16-year-old Qiu Qiyuan of China. Algeria’s Kaylia Nemour took the silver while the US’ Shilese Jones took the bronze medal.
Qiu scored a total of 15.100 points to claim the gold medal.
“I am super excited, super happy right now. The moment when I saw my score come up, I almost cried,” Qiu said.
TIGHT GAME: The Detroit Pistons, the NBA’s second-best team, barely outlasted the Washington Wizards, who fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss Cade Cunningham’s triple double, Daniss Jenkins’ three-pointer at the buzzer and Javonte Green’s overtime dunk lifted Detroit past Washington 137-135 on Monday, stretching the Pistons’ win streak to seven games. In an unexpected thriller, the NBA’s second-best team barely outlasted a Wizards club that fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss. “We knew how big this game was for us,” Jenkins said. “We wasn’t going to let nothing stop us from getting this W.” Cunningham made 14-of-45 shots and 16-of-18 free throws for a career-high 46 points, and added 12 rebounds, 11 assists, five steals and two
LIKE FINE WINE: Thirty-eight-year-old Djokovic won his 101st title of his career in Athens, becoming the oldest tournament winner since Ken Roswell, 44, in 1977 Elena Rybakina on Saturday clinched her biggest title since Wimbledon in 2022, defeating world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 7-6 (7/0) at the WTA Finals in Riyadh. The world No. 6 put on yet another serving masterclass and was at her returning best as she became the first Kazakh and the first player representing an Asian country to lift the WTA Finals singles trophy. Having gone 3-0 in round-robin play, Rybakina earned a record US$5.235 million and would finish the year ranked No. 5 in the world. “It’s been an incredible week, I honestly didn’t expect any result, and to go so far,
An amateur soccer league organized by farmers, students and factory workers in rural China has unexpectedly drawn millions of fans and inspired big cities to form their own, raising hopes China can grow talent from the ground up and finally become a global force. The nation of 1.4 billion people has about 200 million soccer fans, more than any other country, but it has failed to build world-class teams, partly due to a top-down approach where clubs pick players from a very small pool of prescreened candidates. The professional game is marred by a history of fixed matches, corruption, and dismal performances,
EMPTY STANDS: Maccabi fans were banned from attending by police, who cited violence and hate crimes when the team played Ajax in Amsterdam last season Aston Villa beat Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv 2-0 on Thursday in a Europa League game played amid heightened security measures, with more than 700 police officers deployed to deal with possible protests. Morgan Rogers put through Ian Maatsen in first-half stoppage time for the defender to score from a tight angle and Villa doubled the lead on the hour with Donyell Malen hitting the bottom corner from the penalty spot. It was Villa’s third win from games in the competition. The game at Villa Park had become the center of a political debate after Maccabi fans were banned from attending, as
RSS