MADRID, 9 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish rhythmic gymnastics team, made up of Inés Bergua, Salma Solaun, Ana Arnau, Patricia Pérez and Mireia Martínez, was unable to advance to the team final of the Paris Olympic Games after finishing in tenth position in Friday’s qualifying round, outside the eight finalist spots.
The team led by Alejandra Quereda, who arrived in the French capital after a successful Olympic cycle in which they won bronze at the World Championships in Valencia and gold at the European Championships in Budapest, found it difficult to participate in the first of the exercises, the five-ring event.
Several bad receptions hampered the Spanish team, penalized by an execution of 4.900 and which reached a score of 30.100, later corrected to 30.400, far from the 38.200 that placed Italy first and only ahead of Mexico (29.700).
Thus, Quereda’s team, thirteenth, were forced to nail the second exercise, the one with three ribbons and two balls, and wait for mistakes from the rest to have a chance of entering the final, which was accessed by the top eight classified.
To the strains of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ and ‘Let’s Ride’, they achieved a score of 30,000 in the mixed exercise, which temporarily placed them seventh, with four countries still to compete. However, the performances of their rivals weighed them down to tenth place in the final (60,400), leaving them as second reserve team.
Bulgaria, with a score of 70.400 (37.700+32.700), advanced to the final in first place, ahead of Italy, with 69.350 (38.200+31.150) and Ukraine, with 68.950 (35.450+33.500).