The Israeli Linoy Ashram won gold in individual rhythmic gymnastics this Saturday, taking the throne from the favorite and the three-time world champion, Russia’s Dina Avérina, in a final as dramatic as it was controversial.
Ashram scored 27,550 points with the hoop, 28,300 with the ball, 28,650 with the clubs and 23,300 with the ribbon, despite dropping it at one point in his routine. In this way, the Israeli achieved a total of 107,800 points, compared to the 107,650 of Dina and 102,700 of the Belarusian Alina Harnasko, who surpassed Arina Avérina (102,100), Dina’s twin sister and the current runner-up.
Russia lodged a protest against Dina Avérina’s score after the exercises with the tape, but it was rejected.
The Russian gymnast later confessed in comments to television that the result “hurts”, and not because she was second, but because of “an unfair arbitration”, by taking the gold “a girl who acted with the loss.” “Injustice offends me more. I am always in favor of a clean sport, “he said.
Dina also related that her sister gave her to understand that she would not continue her career after staying fourth, although she hopes that in the end she will change her mind and “stay.”
“An embarrassment to rhythmic gymnastics”
For her part, Irina Víner-Usmánova, the coach of Russian rhythmic gymnasts, attacked arbitration in an exclusive interview with MRT, which she described as “a flagrant injustice.”
“Dina did not lose, she won. But, unfortunately, the refereeing was a flagrant injustice,” the coach stressed, explaining that the Russian athlete “did everything cleanly, she was not wrong in the last exercise”, while the Israeli “unfortunately , made a flagrant mistake, for which all the brigades usually take points for performance, technique and art. “
“They always say that if there is this type of error, one person will never be able – if the other did not make the same – become a champion, much less an Olympic champion, and even more so in the last event,” said Víner-Usmánova, for conclude that “it was simply an embarrassment to rhythmic gymnastics.”
Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin said Saturday’s rhythmic gymnastics refereeing raised “a lot of questions.” “It is no coincidence that there have been so many protests against the judges by athletes from different countries,” said the senior official, adding that “for us, Dina Avérina is the true champion “ of these Olympics, which “deserved to win the gold.”
- This is the first time since 1996 that Russian athletes have run out of gold in individual rhythmic gymnastics.
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