Russian Angela Bladtseva was left without Olympic medals in jumping on the trampoline, showing only the fifth result. But it was from her that many expected the first, and perhaps the only Russian podium at Paris 2024. She became the country's only representative in gymnastics at the 2024 Games.
Bladtseva made her debut at the senior level this season and immediately won the World Cup. Thanks to the silver won at the tournament in Baku, Bladtseva passed the Olympic selection. Later, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) gave her access to the Games and included her among 15 neutral athletes from Russia.
Farewell to a dreamThe absence of a flag and anthem did not bother the athlete from St. Petersburg, who emphasized that everyone around her understood perfectly well what country she represented. She went to Paris for gold. She said the same thing after the competition.
Following two exercises in the qualification, the 19-year-old Russian showed the fourth result (55.710 points), which allowed her to get into the top eight and reach the final. Bladtseva was ahead of Chinese Zhu Xueying (56.720), Belarusian Violetta Bordilovskaya (56.340) and another Chinese Hu Yicheng (56.270).
In the final, the St. Petersburg resident could not cope with the excitement, showing a result of 55.020 points. After the end of the performance, Bladtseva burst into tears and could not calm down for a long time. She immediately realized that she had missed out on a medal. And, unfortunately, she really was left outside the top three, losing to the British Briony Paige (56.480), Bordilovskaya (56.060), Canadian Sofiane Methot (55.650) and Zhu Xueying (55.510).
Chinese failureFor the Chinese team, the women's tournament also ended in failure. In addition to the less than successful performance of the current Olympic champion Zhu Xueying, Hu Yicheng also fell. For the first time since 2000, the Chinese were left without Olympic medals in women's trampoline jumping. However, it was then, in Sydney, that the Russian women won their first and last medal in this event.
According to the President of the Russian Trampoline Jumping Federation Nikolai Makarov, the final was not without biased work of the referees.
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“The judging is just bias. Angela was given one point less than they should have, it’s just a joke. We need to calm Angela down, we need to keep working, but she really could have won. We are not blind people. I don’t know what they did to the judges. I think there will be a judge scandal, although we don’t want to raise it, because it’s not very good for the sport. I am in Paris, I left the hall so as not to attend the awards ceremony. This is impudence, I don’t know what else to say. The same as how they judged the Asians,” he said.
The Olympic Games are being held in Paris from July 26 to August 11. Fifteen Russians were admitted to the Games in five sports: seven tennis players, three canoeists, three cyclists, one trampoline jumper and one swimmer. By decision of the IOC, they will compete in the French capital as neutrals, without the Russian flag and anthem, and their awards will not be shown in the medal table.