Wevers, 24, surged to gold with 15.466 points ahead of American Lauren Hernandez, who won silver with 15.333, giving the Netherlands just a second women’s Olympic gold – 88 years after the Dutch team’s victory.
Advertisement
Biles’ fellow Team USA teammate, Laurie Hernandez, won a silver medal, scoring in at 15.333.
And North Korea’s Ri Se-Gwang had tears in his eyes and saluted military-style as he accepted his gold medal in the men’s vault, paying customary tribute to the communist country’s leader Kim Jong-Un.
According to The Guardian, Biles qualified for the event with the highest score and her routine started off well. Biles has already earned three golds – and a bronze Monday night when she wobbled during the balance beam final.
But she stumbled during a front flip, placing her hands on the beam to maintain her balance, losing her chance to secure another gold medal.
The mistake opened the door for Wevers, who put together an elegant set to earn a 15.433. On Sunday, Justin Rose won the first golfing gold medal since 1904 in St. Louis when he beat Henrik Stenson by two strokes on the Olympic course.
Representing Team USA in the event are Simone Biles and Aly Raisman, who managed to lock in the best scores during the qualifiers.
As expected, gymnast extraordinaire Simone Biles picked up her fourth medal at the Rio Olympics.
The 19-year-old, who had seemed unbeatable over the past nine days in Rio with eye-popping routines which combined difficulty, power and beauty, suddenly slipped back among the ranks of mortals. Hernandez, who helped the U.S. to team gold last week, followed with a 15.333 to give the “Final Five” seven medals overall at Rio 2016.
“Oh my god, this is so awesome”, the Dutchwoman said.
“This beam final going in, we’re in the back room in the warm-up gym watching everybody and everyone was awesome, just hitting and hitting and hitting and looking attractive doing it”.
Epke Zonderland, known as the “Flying Dutchman”, defends his horizontal bars title with Germany’s Fabien Hambuechen looking to complete his collection of silver and bronze from London and Beijing. She didn’t fall off, but she definitely lost some points.
It’s nearly exactly what happened to her at last year’s world championships during the all around final on the exact same skill. “I just went out there with a calm and collected mindset … to get my own little medal”.
“The combination of both is crucial”.
Wevers took to the beam directly after Biles and changed her tactics.
Biles said: “I’m not disappointed in the medal that I received because anyone would love to have a bronze at an Olympic Games”.
On her way to talk to reporters, Wevers was congratulated in person by King Willem-Alexander – “He just said he was really proud of me” – and fielded a phone call from Prime Minister Mark Rutte. “Because the rest of the routine was pretty good”.
In track cycling, Mark Cavendish, victor of 30 stages in the Tour de France, was unable to add Olympic gold to his collection.
The gymnasts’ final scores, which combine difficulty and execution, show that Wevers attempted the most technically hard routine of the day, and that her execution was second only to Hernandez’s.
Advertisement
Five gold medals are up for grabs in track events, including women’s 1500 meters and discus, and men’s high jump, triple jump and 100-meter hurdles.
