Hernandez, Biles win balance beam medals at 2016 Olympic Games

© John Cheng

• Men's Results: Still Rings | Vault
• Women's Results: Balance Beam
• Photo Gallery
• USAGym2016.com

RIO DE JANEIRO – Laurie Hernandez of Old Bridge, N.J./MG Elite, and Simone Biles of Spring, Texas/World Champions Centre, won the silver and bronze medals, respectively, on balance beam at the 2016 Olympic Games, held at the Rio Olympic Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Competition concludes tomorrow with the final day of individual event finals, scheduled for 2 p.m. local time.

The U.S. gymnasts competing on the last day of event finals are: floor exercise – Biles and Aly Raisman of Needham, Mass./Brestyan’s American Gymnastics; parallel bars – Danell Leyva of Miami/Team Hilton (Universal Gymnastics); and horizontal bar – Leyva and Sam Mikulak of Newport Coast, Calif./Team Hilton (U.S. Olympic Training Center).

Hernandez was nearly flawless in her beam routine, which included a front pike; back handspring,
layout step-out, layout step-out; front tuck, wolf jump; side aerial; switch ring; and a double pike dismount. She tallied a 15.333 to win the silver medal. Biles began her routine with a two-and-a-half wolf turn. She executed a barani; back handspring, layout step-out, layout step-out; front tuck (touched the beam), front aerial, wolf jump; and two back handsprings to a full-in dismount. She posted a 14.733 for the bronze medal. Sanne Wevers of the Netherlands won the title with a 15.466.

In the men’s vault final, North Korea’s Ri Se Gwang claimed the gold medal with his 15.691. Russia’s Denis Abliazin was second at 15.516, and the bronze went to Japan’s Kenzo Shirai (15.449).

The still rings medalists were: gold, Greece’s Eleftherios Petrounias (16.000); silver, Brazil’s Arthur Zanetti (15.766); and bronze, Russia’s Denis Abliazin (15.700).

Final gymnastics in Rio

• Aug. 17: gala, 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Ways to follow the action
NBC is the broadcast and web source for coverage and news on the Olympic Games.

• NBCOlympics.com. NBCOlympics.com will carry live coverage of every gymnastics session as well as all sports, and maintain an archive for on-demand coverage. The gymnastics schedule is listed below.
  • Aug. 16, individual event finals, 1 p.m. ET
• NBC. Gymnastics coverage is expected to appear in the primetime broadcast.
  • Aug. 15, individual event finals, 8 p.m. ET, NBC
  • Aug. 16, individual event finals, 8 p.m. ET, NBC

USA Gymnastics and the United States Olympic Committee are also providing easy ways to follow the action from Rio.

• USAGym2016.com. Original stories, athlete bios, schedules, results and more are available at usagym2016.com.
• USAGym.org. The USA Gymnastics official website is a great source for information about the sport: latest news, the schedule of its premier events, athlete biographies, videos, photo galleries and more.
• TeamUSA.org. The U.S. Olympic Committee’s website will also be a good resource for information on the Team USA in Rio.
• Social Media. USA Gymnastics is providing live updates and exclusive content, including interviews and photos, on Facebook and Twitter (@USAGym).