For some gymnasts, the Olympics begins when they arrive at the athlete village with their team mates. They train together, go through qualifications, and compete in the stressful team finals, where emotions run high as team mates nail landings and make mistakes that could affect four other athletes. It's a week long affair, filled with ups and downs.
For others, the Olympics can be as simple as one vault, one exercise, or one routine. Several gymnasts arrive without a team, feeling the weight of their country's medal hopes on their shoulders. Some will compete for an all around medal, while others are event specialists that are in Rio for a grand total of one apparatus.
Some of these athletes are delighted to be at the Olympics, and hope that the exposure will help build their sport in their country. Others, however, have medal hopes, with some seeing gold.
Catalina Ponor Returns
Catalina Ponor doesn't like retirement very much. After competing for the gold medal winning Romanian team at the 2004, a series of injuries caused Ponor to retire prior to the 2008 Olympics; however, in 2011, 4 years after she announced her retirement, Ponor announced she was returning to competition. She made the Romanian team once again and went to London, where she helped the team win the bronze medal, as well as walking away with the silver medal on floor. She walked away from gymnastics a second time, this time at the age of 24, having fulfilled as much as she could in the sport.
Last year, Ponor shocked fans by announcing that she would be returning to gymnastics once again. Ponor was looking to lead team Romania to another place on the Olympic podium; unfortunately, the bottom fell out of Romanian gymnastics. Several retirments, coaching changes, and injuries to Larisa Iordache left Romania without a spot in the Olympics. Having only one spot in the Games, Romanian gymnastics decided to send Ponor over Iordache, mostly due to Iordache's list of injuries.
Ponor will have the incredible honor of being Romania's flag bearer for the Opening Ceremonies, but she'll also have the incredible pressure of being the sole representative of a once proud gymnastics country. This is part of the reason why Ponor might be adding an uneven bars routine, an event she has not competed done in competition in years, in order to make the all-around finals. While her odds of being an all-around medal winner are low, she could make the podium on the balance beam, and remains a strong contender on the floor exercise.
Hong Un Jong's Yurchenko?
How old is Hong Un Jong? 28? 32? 19? 84? No one seems to know, but one thing everyone can agree on is that she is really good on the vault. She won the gold medal on vault at the 2008 Olympics, and has won a rainbow of medals this quad - a bronze in 2013, gold in 2014, and silver in 2015 at the World Championships. With her current skill set, Jong is one of the favorites to win the gold medal, and is probably a lock to at least be on the podium.
Jong, however, does not seem satisified with this. A video posted from practice in Rio shows Jong attempting a triple-twisting Yurchenko. Jong has submitted this skill to judges in past competitions, but this is the first time footage of the skill, unassisted, has been seen.
The move is a risky one. If she were to hit the skill, she would be the first female gymnast to ever complete a triple-twisting Yurchenko in competition. They would name the skill after her, and she would be assured the gold medal, as the start value, a 6.8 D score, all but assures her the win.
However, if she does not land the skill, her deductions may leave her off the podium completely. Simone Biles, seen as the favorite to win gold, usually nails her landings, meaning Jong would not have much room for error for the skill.
Perhaps the risk is worth it for Jong. Since she is from the isolated country of North Korea, people only really get to see her at the biggest events. Having an incredibly difficult move on the vault named after you would make North Korea's first ever gold medalist an icon in the sport.
Oksana Chusovitina's Seventh Olympics
Going to seven Olympic Games and competing past the age of 40 is incredibly impressive for any sport. In gymnastics, it is completely unheard of.
Oksana Chusovitina is going to be breaking a ton of records this year. At 41 years of age, she will be the oldest gymnast in Olympic history. She will also be the first gymnast to ever compete in seven Olympic Games. To put it in perspective, Chusovitina made her first World Championship team in 1991, representing the Soviet Union, a country that no longer exists.
Chusovitina, represents her home country of Uzbekistan, isn't looking to just be a ceremonial gymnast. She is looking for a medal on vault, her only event. She took home the silver in Beijing 8 years ago, and has since won a silver medal at the 2011 World Championships and the 2014 Asian Games. Chusovitina will be facing incredibly stiff competition, but Chusovitina is hoping her experience will vault her back onto the podium once again.
Vietnam Looking For History
No matter what happens in Rio, Phan Thị Hà Thanh will be considered a trailblazer in her home country of Vietman. In 2011, Thanh won the bronze medal at the World Championships on the vault, making her the first gymnast from Vietnam to win a medal at the Gymnastics World Championships. Since then, she has won a gold at the Asian Championships, and even added a strong balance beam routine, winning a silver medal at the Asian Games in 2014.
She has struggled with injuries the past two years, but Thanh is hoping to be 100% by the time the Olympic Games begins. If she is, she could make the finals on either the vault or the balance beam. If she were to somehow win a medal, she would become the first gymnast from Vietnam to win an Olympic medal, and would instantly become a sports hero in her native country.
Steingruber Eyes The All-Around
Switzerland's Gulia Steingruber will be competing in her second Olympics, but she is a completely different gymnast now than she was four years ago. She has won five gold medals at the European Championships, including the all-around in 2015. She finished fifth in the all-around standings at the World Championships last year, and she heads to Rio with a ton of confidence and eyeing a spot on the all-around podium.
There is plenty of reason to think Steingruber has an excellent shot at a medal. With Larisa Iordache not competing, and the United States unsure as to which gymnasts (other than Simone Biles) will be competing in the all-around competition, Steingruber may be the most consistent gymnast (other than Simone Biles) in the competition. She is great on vault and floor, and has proven to be really good on the beam, as well. The silver and bronze medal positions are wide open. If Steingruber were to win a gold on an apparatus, which would be either floor or vault, she would be the first Swiss gymnast to win an Olympic gold medal.
Dipa Karmakar And The Produnova
When Dipa Karmakar arrives in Rio, she will be making history. She is the first ever female gymnast from India to qualify for the Olympics, and the first overall Indian gymnast in 52 years.
When she gets to Rio, she's hoping to make history in another way - become the first female gymnast to successfully land a Produnova vault at the Olympics.
The Produnova is a vault that is so dangerous that landing it wrong could lead to severe injury. Many within the gymnastics community have talked about banning the vault as the risk may not be worth the reward. The start value is a massive 7.0, which is .2 higher than the vault Jong may attempt, and Jong's vault has never been done before.
To date, only five gymnasts have completed the Produnova, and Karmakar is one of them when she landed the move at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. If she lands on her feet at the Olympics, she could win the gold medal; however, she has yet to land on her feet in a major competition.
Karmakar is hoping that her notority will help build gymnastics in India.