Last Thursday, Angelina Melnikova won her first individual Olympic medal. The Russian gymnast came in third place at the Olympic individual...
Last Thursday, Angelina Melnikova won her first individual Olympic medal.
The Russian gymnast came in third place at the Olympic individual all-around final behind US Sunisa Lee and Brazil's Rebeca Andrade, who finished in first and second place respectively.
Melnikova expressed her happiness over winning the bronze all around medal. She was in fourth place after three rotations but knew she had a chance to finish on the podium.
"I saw that I was fourth but I knew that my floor is competitive and if I do it well, my score will also be good," Melnikova told matchtv.ru.
"I knew before floor that I could win a medal if I got a good score. I’m happy that all my work wasn’t for nothing. It was a long and hard road here but it was my road."
On the then defending Olympic all around champion Simone Biles being absent from the competition, Melnikova said it was more interesting for her to compete knowing that she had a chance of becoming the Olympic all around champion instead of only competing for silver or bronze.
However, she believes the competition’s results were fair as she lost out to Lee and Andrade in difficulty.
“I’m really happy for Sunisa Lee who won, I really like her,” the Olympic bronze medalist continues. “Very happy for Rebeca Andrade because I think it’s the very first medal for Brazil in women’s artistic gymnastics.”
She went on to say she “heard Simone cheer on me before my bars routine and it was really nice because I admire her.”
Melnikova helped her team win their first Olympic gold medal in Tokyo. She will be seen competing at the vault, uneven bars, and floor exercise finals on August 1st and 2nd.
Written by Gigi Farid
Photo via Ginnastica Artistica Italiana
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