La Jornada – Alexa Moreno goes to the horse jumping final

like. On a tough day for the Mexicans, gymnast Alexa Moreno delivered a remarkable performance as she advanced to the vaulting final in her first appearance at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, after finishing seventh, with American Simone Biles leading the competition. .

The tricolor was eighth with 14,633 points, but moved up one place after readjusting positions following the departure of American MyKayla Skinner due to the fact that with regulation, only players from each country could qualify for the final for each device.

“I am very happy to achieve it, already in the test I will do my best, but my goal of reaching the final has been achieved. There will be no more pressure and I will enjoy it a lot.”

“It helped me a lot that the horse was my first spinner, which made me feel a little more comfortable and look for two good jumps,” he added.

The Mexican could not advance in Everywhere Because he made mistakes, such as falling off the crossbar, which cost him a 0.1 fine, as well as not carrying out his exit on time.

Alexa finished 83rd on the balance beam with 11,066 units, while in the floor test it stayed at step 60 with 12,333 points and in the identical bars it was at step 59 with 12,566.

However, she became the second Mexican gymnast to reach an Olympic final in horse jumping, after Denis Lopez in Sydney 2000. She also added another achievement after winning the bronze medal in horse jumping at the World Cup of Artistic Gymnastics in 2018 in Doha, Qatar, and to Receive the National Sports Award 2019.

For her part, American star Simone Biles qualified for the six gymnastics finals and led the overall competition, despite several unusual errors.

Biles, who in his record has five Olympic medals (four gold and one bronze, all at Rio 2016) and 19 world titles, can aspire to six golds in Tokyo 2020, which will allow him to surpass the record set in gymnastics by no. Soviet Larisa Latynina headed nine.

So the American will be in inter-team competition on Tuesday, in the public test on Thursday and in four ways (jump, ground, colt, uneven bars) August 1-3.

Simone struggled to qualify on the bars, which was never her strength, finishing eighth and final.

In the soil test he finished second. Biles got off to a steady start, after failing to put his feet out of the playing area. But the degree to which her routine was so difficult was that, even with a big mistake, she got the second-best result, after 30-year-old Italian Vanessa Ferrari.

He took first place in the horse vaulting competition, but could not find his best form on the uneven crossbar and bars.

The US team is seeking to defend the title, but it finished second in the standings after the Russian Olympic Committee team surpassed it by one point (170.562 versus 171.629), while the Chinese came in third place (166.863).

Although the United States did not dominate the tests as many expected, the team’s coordinator, Tom Forster, noted that no medals were handed out on Sunday.

“Mentally we’d be fine,” Forster said. “It’s about focus; it wasn’t the final, it was about getting there. That could be a warning sign for us and we’ll take advantage of it.”

Chusovitina gave a standing ovation

Another highlight of artistic gymnastics in Tokyo 2020 was that the 46-year-old dean of gymnastics, Uzbekistan’s Oksana Chusovitina, failed to qualify for the vaulting final, despite being given a standing ovation at her eighth Olympics.

In the absence of the audience, gymnasts and other coaches formed a hall of honor to honor the largest participation in Olympic history, whose first games were played in Barcelona in 1992.

“I cried with joy. Many people have supported me for a long time. I am very grateful,” said the person who represented the united team of the former Soviet republics, right after the disappearance of the Soviet Union.

At the end of the day, German gymnasts also attracted attention by competing in a full-body suit, rather than the usual jersey They have been modified, to feel more comfortable and avoid an unpleasant appearance, as they have already done in Basel (Switzerland) in European April.