Gymnastics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's vault

The women's vault event at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held on 25 July and 1 August 2021 at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre.[1] Unlike the other apparatus events, vault requires gymnasts to perform two exercises in order for results to count towards the vault final; most of the gymnasts perform only one (if they are participating in team or individual all-around) or none (if they are only participating in other apparatus). Approximately 20 gymnasts from 15 nations (of the 98 total gymnasts) competed two vaults in the qualifying round.[2]

Women's vault
at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
Olympic artistic gymnastics
VenueAriake Gymnastics Centre
Dates25 July 2021 (qualifying)
1 August 2021 (final)
Competitors8 from 6 nations
Winning score15.083 points
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Rebeca Andrade  Brazil
2nd place, silver medalist(s) MyKayla Skinner  United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Yeo Seo-jeong  South Korea
← 2016
2024 →

Rebeca Andrade of Brazil won the event for her second individual medal of the 2020 Olympics. Andrade's medal is the first gold for Brazil in women's artistic gymnastics. MyKayla Skinner of the United States earned the silver medal after originally being excluded by the two-per-country rule. South Korea's Yeo Seo-jeong finished with the bronze to earn South Korea's first medal in women's artistic gymnastics.

The medals for the competition were presented by Nawal El Moutawakel, Morocco; IOC Executive Board Member, and the medalists' bouquets were presented by Jesus Carballo, Spain; FIG Executive Committee Member.

Background

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This was the 19th appearance of the event, after making its debut at the 1952 Summer Olympics. Defending champion Simone Biles of the United States was aiming to become the first woman to defend their Olympic title since Věra Čáslavská did so in 1964 and 1968. However, Biles announced her withdrawal on 30 July due to mental health reasons, following earlier withdrawals from the team and individual all-around finals.[3] She was replaced in the final by teammate MyKayla Skinner, who had previously been excluded due to the two-per-country rule.

Qualification

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A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 6 qualified gymnasts: a team of 4 and up to 2 specialists. A total of 98 quota places are allocated to women's gymnastics.

The 12 teams that qualify will be able to send 4 gymnasts in the team competition, for a total of 48 of the 98 quota places. The top three teams at the 2018 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships (the United States, Russia, and China) and the top nine teams (excluding those already qualified) at the 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships (France, Canada, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Japan, and Spain) earned team qualification places.

The remaining 50 quota places are awarded individually. Each gymnast can only earn one place, except that gymnasts that competed with a team that qualified are eligible to earn a second place through the 2020 All Around World Cup Series. Some of the individual events are open to gymnasts from NOCs with qualified teams, while others are not. These places are filled through various criteria based on the 2019 World Championships, the 2020 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup series, continental championships, a host guarantee, and a Tripartite Commission invitation.

Each of the 98 qualified gymnasts are eligible for the vault competition, but due to the requirement that the gymnast perform two vault exercises in the qualifying round (rather than the one needed to count for team and individual all-around events), many gymnasts do not attempt to qualify for the vault final.

The COVID-19 pandemic delayed many of the events for qualifying for gymnastics. The 2018 and 2019 World Championships were completed on time, but many of the World Cup series events were delayed into 2021.

Competition format

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The top 8 qualifiers in the qualification phase (limit two per NOC) advanced to the apparatus final. For the vault, only gymnasts who performed two exercises on the vault were considered for the final; the average score of the two exercises was counted. The finalists again performed two vaults. Qualification scores were then ignored, with only final round scores (average of the two exercises) counting.

Schedule

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The competition was held over two days, 25 July and 1 August. The qualifying round (for all women's gymnastics events) was the first day with the vault final on the first day of individual event finals.[1]

Date Time Round Subdivision
25 July 10:00 Qualification Subdivision 1
11:50 Subdivision 2
15:10 Subdivision 3
17:05 Subdivision 4
20:20 Subdivision 5
1 August 17:45 Final
All times are local time (UTC+09:00).

Results

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Qualifying

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Rank Gymnast Vault 1 Vault 2 Total Results
D Score E Score Penalty Score 1 D Score E Score Penalty Score 2
1   Simone Biles (USA) 6.0 9.266 0.300 14.966 5.8 9.600 15.400 15.183 Q W[3]
2   Jade Carey (USA) 6.0 9.166 15.166 5.8 9.366 15.166 15.166 Q
3   Rebeca Andrade (BRA) 6.0 9.400 15.400 5.4 9.400 14.800 15.100 Q
4   MyKayla Skinner (USA) 6.0 8.933 14.933 5.8 9.000 14.800 14.866 – S
5   Yeo Seo-jeong (KOR) 5.8 9.200 15.000 5.4 9.200 14.600 14.800 Q
6   Shallon Olsen (CAN) 6.0 8.966 14.966 5.4 9.033 14.433 14.699 Q
7   Lilia Akhaimova (ROC) 5.8 8.966 14.766 5.6 9.033 14.633 14.699 Q
8   Alexa Moreno (MEX) 5.8 9.033 14.833 5.6 8.933 0.100 14.433 14.633 Q
9   Angelina Melnikova (ROC) 5.4 9.066 14.466 6.0 8.866 0.100 14.766 14.616 Q
10   Giulia Steingruber (SUI) 5.8 9.033 14.833 5.4 8.900 14.300 14.566 R1
11   Mai Murakami (JPN) 5.4 9.033 14.433 5.8 8.700 14.500 14.466 R2
12   Ellie Black (CAN) 5.4 9.133 14.533 5.2 9.100 14.300 14.416 R3
Reserves

The reserves for the women's vault final were:

  1.   Giulia Steingruber (SUI)
  2.   Mai Murakami (JPN)
  3.   Ellie Black (CAN)

Only two gymnasts from each country may advance to the event final. Gymnasts who did not qualify for the final because of the quota, but had high enough scores to do so were:

Final

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Position Gymnast Vault 1 Vault 2 Total
D Score E Score Penalty Score 1 D Score E Score Penalty Score 2
    Rebeca Andrade (BRA) 6.0 9.266 0.100 15.166 5.8 9.200 15.000 15.083
    MyKayla Skinner (USA) 6.0 9.033 15.033 5.8 9.000 14.800 14.916
    Yeo Seo-jeong (KOR) 6.2 9.133 15.333 5.4 8.733 14.133 14.733
4   Alexa Moreno (MEX) 5.8 8.966 14.766 5.6 9.066 14.666 14.716
5   Angelina Melnikova (ROC) 5.4 9.266 14.666 6.0 8.800 0.100 14.700 14.683
6   Lilia Akhaimova (ROC) 5.8 8.866 14.666 5.6 9.066 14.666 14.666
7   Shallon Olsen (CAN) 6.0 8.700 14.700 5.4 9.000 14.400 14.550
8   Jade Carey (USA) 3.3 8.633 11.933 5.8 9.100 2.000 12.900 12.416

[5]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Artistic Gymnastics Competition Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  2. ^ "Qualification System – Games of the XXXII Olympiad – Artistic Gymnastics" (PDF). International Gymnastics Federation. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  3. ^ a b Maine, D'Arcy (30 July 2021). "Simone Biles withdraws from vault, uneven bars at the 2021 Olympics; status for last two individual events to be determined". ESPN.
  4. ^ Furlong, Josh (30 July 2021). "2nd chances: MyKayla Skinner to replace Simone Biles in vault final Sunday". KSL.com.
  5. ^ "Artistic Gymnastics: Women's Vault Final – Results" (PDF). International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 August 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2021.