SKIP TO MAIN CONTENT

Four gymnasts share asymmetric bars gold

GLASGOW (Reuters) - Fan Yilin, Viktoriia Komova, Daria Spiridonova and Madison Kocian shared an unprecedented four gold medals at the gymnastics world championships on Saturday when the judges could not decide between their asymmetric bars routines.

Four gymnasts share asymmetric bars gold
(Reuters)

3 min read

Published

Updated

Source: Reuters


Skip to article content

China's Fan was the first to be awarded 15.366 points for her gravity-defying routine that involved travelling between the two bars while executing a number of difficult elements.

Next up was 2011 champion Komova, who fell from her signature apparatus during the women's team final earlier in the week.

When she nailed her dismount she looked pleased to have avoided any drama and then looked bemused at drawing the same score as her Chinese rival.

News that makes sense

Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

From then on, the gymnasts kept bursting into laughter as first American Kocian and then Komova's fellow Russian Spiridonova also joined the 15.366 gang.

With the giant television screen confirming that there were indeed four champions from the eight-woman final, the gold medallists stood with their arms around each other in a straight line as the crowd gave them a standing ovation.

"It's definitely crazy. I wasn't sure if they were going to do a tie-breaker but I knew my execution would be a little better based on qualifications, so I knew either way I was going to have a medal. I was just hoping it'd still be gold," Kocian said after earning her second gold in Glasgow following the success of the American women in the team competition.

The Russians were still in shock after a prolonged medals ceremony featured three national anthems being played and the master of ceremonies making four announcements starting with "Winner of the gold medal and the 2015 uneven bars champion is...."

Organisers also had to abandon the flag-raising ceremony as there was no room for three flags on the same horizontal pole.

“I've never seen anything like this and I didn't think anything like this would even be possible. It's great that we are in this together and we will share the victory,” Spiridonova said.

Komova added: "It was hard to deal with the nerves after they started to announce the results. I am personally shocked. It's the first time the judges had such a hard time deciding who the champion was on bars.” 

While so many gold medals have never been given out in one event before, there was a five-way tie for silver at the 1922 championships on the pommel horse.

Saturday's final also featured 2012 Olympic all-around champion Gabby Douglas but she missed out on stepping on to the crowded top podium with 15.133 -- the second highest score of the competition.

(Editing by Clare Fallon)


Get SBS News straight to your inbox

Sign up now for daily news from Australia and around the world. You can also subscribe to Insight's weekly newsletter for in-depth features and first-person stories.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Follow SBS News

Download our apps

Listen to our podcasts

Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service

Stream now

Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world