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Mao in tears as slip costs China
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MAO Yi was inconsolable despite helping China back onto the Olympic women’s gymnastics team podium in Rio on Tuesday as the 2008 Beijing champion took bronze.
The Chinese had been poised for silver behind a dominant Simone Biles-fuelled United States with the only suspense at the Rio Olympic Arena being who would complete the podium.
But Mao slipped all the way off the mat on her first acrobatic pass on the floor, scoring just 12.633 on her final rotation.
It ended China’s bid to match its world championship silver last year behind the US after teammate Shang Chunsong had earlier crashed off the uneven bars.
China finished just 0.685 points behind Russia, with the US 8.209 points ahead of its nearest rival.
“All my teammates did a great job. The problem was me,” said a tearful Mao, 16.
“I kept blaming myself while waiting for the scores after that horrible floor exercise. But it was already over.
“It’s like on and off, like a rollercoaster. It is partially mental but also technical. I should have done a better job.
“But we were already finished.”
The five-woman Chinese team also included Tan Jiaxin, Wang Yan and Fan Yilin.
“I still feel sad because we made two big mistakes,” 20-year-old Shang said. “If we only made one, we might have won the silver medal.
“In the next four years we will try and catch up with the US team.
“Our team is very young we need more training and more experience to do what they (the US) did today.”
It was the third Olympic team medal for China after it also secured bronze in 1984.
The Chinese men also took bronze, losing the title they had held since Beijing 2008 to Japan.
Russia jumped into second, to match the finish of its men’s team on Monday, with a strong finish on the vault.
London 2012 team silver medallists Aliya Mustafina and Maria Paseka, were joined by Angelina Melnikova, Seda Tutkhalian and Daria Spiridonova.
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