Beijing Olympic Games

Updated: 2008-08-23 21:53:00

Gold medalist Evgeniya Kanaeva of Russia waves to the crowd (Photo credit: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

(BEIJING, August 23) — Evgeniya Kanaeva of Russia won the gold medal by an impressive 3.575-point margin in the Individual All-Around finals at the Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium on Saturday.

The 18-year-old had the top score of the field on all four apparatus (75.500) to give Russia their third consecutive Olympic Games title in the Individual All-Around. Kanaeva, the 2008 European Individual All-Around champion, led the field by 0.650 points after the first apparatus and extended her lead as the four rotations progressed.

Seventh at Athens 2004, Inna Zhukova of Belarus performed with consistency and elegance to win the silver medal (71.925). She pulled into second place after her clubs routine in the third rotation, despite dropping the apparatus at the beginning of her performance.

Athens 2004 bronze medalist Anna Bessonova of Ukraine was in fifth place after two apparatus, but dynamic routines with clubs and ribbon in the second half of the final pulled her into third (71.875). Following an inquiry, the difficulty value of Bessonova’s clubs routine was raised by 0.050. Her ribbon routine in the fourth rotation cemented her third place, although the judges delayed posting her score for several minutes.

“For me, the spectators are the real judges. Because of them, I performed better with the ribbon than the other three apparatus.” said Bessonova.

“The Olympic Games bring together different Gymnastics heroes, but only three gymnasts can make it to the medal podium. One time every four years, you can win an Olympic medal, so for me even another bronze medal makes me happy.”

The 2005 world Individual All-Around champion Olga Kapranova of Russia suffered two drops in her clubs routine in the third rotation and received a low score of 16.925. She recovered in the final rotation by performing the third highest-scoring ribbon routine of the day, but ended 0.175 points behind Bessonova.