Israel’s Linoy Ashram caused a huge upset in the Olympic rhythmic gymnastics individual all-around final, becoming the first non-Russian champion since 1996.
Ashram was the favorite to win as she recently won the European championships and was ranked #1 in the world. Another Israeli gymnast, 20 year old Nicole Zeligman, also made it to the finals, which allows a maximum of 2 gymnasts per nation in a 10 gymnast final. Zeligman finished 7th.
The 22-year-old toppled the long-standing reign by beating gold medal favourite Dina Averina of the Russian Olympic Committee into second place.
Averina was left in tears as the scores were revealed, and said she felt her awarded marks were too low.
Alina Harnasko earned bronze for Belarus.
Prior to Ashram’s victory, Israel’s best result in this event was a seventh-place finish by Neta Rivkin at London 2012.
“When I was young I dreamed to be in the Olympics and compete there and then I go and take a gold medal,” said Ashram.
“It’s like a dream I think, like I’m not here.”
29839 Sta Margarita Pkwy, 
Videography by Barbara Rosenfeld 
