Bronze for teen Tinkler as Biles wins fourth gold
AFTER an extended wait for the final contestant’s marks, reminiscent of some TV talent show, 16-year-old Amy Tinkler found herself as an Olympic bronze medallist.
Britain’s got talent in gymnastics, certainly in the shape of the teenager from County Durham, and Nile Wilson, who joined her in third place on the podium to take the overall GB tally to six in the sport.
Tinkler put in a superb routine in the floor exercise dominated, inevitably, by American Simona Biles. By edging out Italy’s Vanessa Ferrari, Tinkler became the youngest British Olympic medallist since 15year-old swimmer Sarah Hardcastle at the Los Angeles Games in 1984.
‘It’s just incredible,’ said Tinkler. ‘I’m in shock at the minute. I can’t believe it at all. At the beginning of the week I was just here to do my job for the team. I wasn’t expecting any finals. To make a floor final and then go to medal is incredible.’
With her mother a gym teacher, Tinkler took up the sport as a toddler. She was soon doing backflips on her bed at home and, as a member of South Durham gymnastics club, was promoted to the elite group by six. She has taken her GCSE in PE a year early and will get her results when she gets back home to Bishop Auckland.
Naturally she failed to match the astounding American, yet the Brit could hardly have executed her routine any better. Soaring into the air off the 2,000 steel springs that underpin the floor, she went through it without blemish, and by the time she had finished in a blur of mid-air twists and somersaults she was first, with four gymnasts to go.
Unfortunately one of them was the spellbinding Biles. She went a massive 1.033 points ahead on 15.966, and her compatriot Alexandra Raisman also went well clear of the 15 mark to finish on 15.500.
Then came, last of all, the third best qualifier, Ferrari. She was immaculate until her last move, which she spilled out of in slightly untidy fashion before regaining her balance. After what must have seemed like an eternity Ferrari was given 0.167 fewer points by the judges, partly on the basis of having attempted something fractionally less difficult.
Wilson looked destined for silver on the high bar before being pipped by the last man up, American Danell Leyva. Wilson came in with high hopes, having qualified for the final with a score of 15.666, precisely the same as Fabian Hambuchen, and with the favourite Kohei Uchimura having fallen off the bar in the qualifying. Wilson had already made himself the eighth best gymnast in the world in the all-round individual event and was part of the team which narrowly missed out on a bronze medal in fourth place.
The extrovert Wilson, just 20, started gymnastics at eight and went on to have a stellar junior career, winning five gold medals at the 2014 European Junior Championships. A member of the City of Leeds Gym Club, he took silver in the team event at last year’s World Championships. The high bar has become his speciality and he won gold at the Commonwealth Games, while earlier this year he took gold at the European Championships.
His main rival, Germany’s 28-yearold Hambuchen, opened with a flawless routine that always looked likely to be too good. Wilson, executing a full twisting double salto, came in 0.3 behind the German on 15.466. That looked good enough for second place until he was agonisingly edged out at the end.
But he tried to ignore any disappointment about just missing out on silver: ‘The scores are irrelevant. I just focussed on my routine.
‘In hindsight I could have done enough for gold, but you’ve got to do it on the day. It shows how much British gymnastics has come on, that we’re disappointed with a bronze medal right now.
‘Hopefully we can come back and fight for gold. I will be sticking around a long time. It’s my first Olympics, I love my job, I love my sport and I will be back.’