Biles misses fourth Olympic gold with below-par performance in balance beam

Siomone Biles lost to nobody but her own mistakes as she failed to grab the balance beam gold at the Rio Olympic Games on Monday.

As the world champion in this event, Biles reached the final with the highest score in qualification. However, the 19-year-old talent nearly fell off the beam after doing a front tuck and she had to touch the beam with both hands to keep her balance.

Biles finally placed third in 14.733 points while Dutch Sanne Wevers turned her silver medal at last year's World Championships to a shinning gold in 15.466 points.

The 16-year-old U.S. rookie Lauren Hernandeztook the silver in 15.333 points.

"I'm not disappointed in the medal that I received because anyone would love to have a bronze at an Olympic Games," said Biles, who had collected three gold medals at Rio.

"I'm disappointed in the routine that I did. Not so much the entire routine just the front tuck I guess, because the rest of the routine was pretty good."

But Biles still have the chance to chase her fourth Olympic gold at Rio as she is going to compete in the floor exercise final as the top qualifier on Tuesday.

Earlier, world champion Eleftherios Petrounias from Greece claimed the gold of men's rings with an unusual high score of 16 points.

"It came as I expected. I think we worked a lot in the details, to be stable. It is difficult to move, to hold all your positions a little bit more than normal. And if you have a good landing, like I had, that's how the (score of) 16 came," said the 25-year-old.

Brazilian veteran Arthur Zanetti failed to defend his title, but brought home a silver in 15.766 points, followed by Denis Abliazin of Russia in 15.700 points.

2014 world champion Liu Yang of China finished fourth and his teammate You Hao ranked sixth in the final.

"My aim was to win a gold medal. So, the result is disappointing," said the 21-year-old Liu, who shed tears in the mixed zone.

"The only mistake happened on the dismount and that's because I didn't have any energy left."

In the men's vault final, specialist Ri Se Gwang of DPR Korea triumphed in 15.691 points, winning the second gold for DPR Korea at Rio.

Russian Denis Abliazin took the silver as he did in London four years ago with a score of 15.516 points.

Kenzo Shirai of Japan finished third in 15.449 points.

Source : XINHUA