Rio Event Final Predictions: Floor

The final apparatus in our series on event final predictions is floor. Over the past ten Olympics, Romania has had at least one medalist on floor. In 2012 i

Aug 3, 2016 by Justine Kelly

The final apparatus in our series on event final predictions is floor. Over the past ten Olympics, Romania has had at least one medalist on floor. In 2012 it was Catalina Ponor with the silver medal, and in 2008 it was Sandra Izbasa who won the gold. In 2004, the team went 1-2 on the podium, with Ponor winning the gold and Nicoleta Daniela Sofronie winning silver.

The USA has done well in recent years also. Aly Raisman enters her second Olympics as the defending Olympic Champion on floor. In 2008, Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin captured the silver and bronze medals, respectively.

So who is in the mix this year? Take a look below at our predictions for the floor event final.

Simone Biles, USA

Simone Biles is an obvious choice for the floor final, which is arguably her best event. She comes into the competition ahead of the field with a huge 6.9 D-score. She is also the defending World Champion on the event, and has won the World Championship title three consecutive years in a row, starting with her senior debut in 2013. Biles' routine is so explosive because of her huge tumbling - her third pass, a double twisting double tuck, is a move that most other gymnasts are lucky if they can perform as their first pass. Her recent high scores on the international stage include a 16.05 in team finals at the Pacific Rim Championships.

Aly Raisman, USA

As the defending Olympic Champion on floor, Raisman will be expected to make floor finals and has a very good chance of medalling as well. She has upped her difficulty level from 2012 and now competes with a 6.6 D-score. She is solid on this event as well, always hitting her tough passes with ease. Like Biles, she has huge endurance which enables her to perform passes like a double layout in the latter part of her routine. Raisman scores high domestically (she scored a 15.7 at Nationals earlier this year) but she does well internationally as well - most recently, she scored a 15.6 at Pac Rims.

Giulia Steingruber, Switzerland

Giulia Steingruber is the current European Champion on floor exercise, having won the gold medal in Bern, scoring a 15.2. Steingruber is a powerful gymnast and has a good chance of making finals in Rio. She tends to compete with a 6.2-6.4 D-score and scores in the high 14.0s into the low 15.0s, so she is one of the higher scoring gymnasts in the world on this apparatus. Check out the powerful tumbling from her routine at European Championships:

Video via europeangymnastics

Shang Chunsong, China

At World Championships last year, Shang Chunsong made it into the floor final and finished tied in 4th place, scoring a 14.933 and competing with a 6.4 D-score. She has performed even better this year, winning the gold medal during event finals at the Chinese National Championships, scoring a 15.1 with a 6.6 D-score. Her routine includes tough tumbling combinations, such as a 3 ½ twist connected straight into a front pike and a 1 ½ twist into a triple twist into a punch front. She also has difficult dance as well, like a quadruple turn and a double wolf turn.

Sae Miyakawa, Japan

Sae Miyakawa tied with Shang in the floor final at the 2015 World Championships, scoring a 14.933 and competing with a 6.3 D-Score. That same year, Miyakawa won the bronze medal on floor at the Asian Championships in Hiroshima. Her current routine is packed with difficult tumbling, including a full twisting double layout, a full twisting front layout connected into a double front, a double twisting double back, and a double layout to finish it off. Check out her routine from qualifications at Worlds below (note she has since upgraded her second pass as described above):

Video via FIG Channel

Wang Yan, China

Wang Yan is one of China's more powerful gymnasts, and this shines through on floor. She competed on floor with a 6.3 D-score at World Championships in 2015, scoring a 14.633 in team finals. Most recently, Wang scored a 15.05 in qualifications at Chinese Nationals, and a 15.0 in the all-around. She'll face steep competition from teammates Shang and Mao Yi to make it into finals, but her high D-score should help if she's able to hit everything.

Claudia Fragapane, Great Britain

Claudia Fragapane competes with great difficulty on floor, and is one of Great Britain's strongest competitors on this event. She is the current British National Champion on floor and has a 6.5 D-score. This year, she scored a 14.833 in team finals at the European Championships, helping her team to a silver medal finish. She also competed on the Worlds team last year, scoring a 14.733 in team finals to help the team to a bronze medal finish, and she scored a 14.466 in event finals. Her difficulty is huge in her routine - she does a double layout connected into a wolf jump as her final pass. Check out the routine from the British Championships below:

Video via BGtv British Gymnastics

Catalina Ponor, Romania

Ponor has been training hard this year, working on getting herself back into competition shape in time to represent Romania in Rio. Ponor is one of the most experienced gymnasts in the field, having already won five Olympic medals, including a gold medal on floor in 2004 and a silver medal on floor in 2012. This year, she has proven that she still has what it takes to compete with the top gymnasts in the world. Recently, she captured the bronze medal at European Championships in Bern, scoring a 14.466 on the event and competing with a 6.0 D-score.