© John Cheng

LONDON, Aug. 4, 2012 – Savannah Vinsant of Lafayette, La./Trampoline and Tumbling Express, became the first U.S. trampolinist to qualify to the finals at an Olympic Games. She finished sixth at the 2012 Olympic Games at the North Greenwich Arena in London. Gymnastics continues tomorrow with the first of three days of individual event finals for men’s and women’s gymnastics.

In the compulsory round, Vinsant scored a 46.400 for her routine that included a half in Rudy out and finished in 11th place. She scored a 54.955 for her optional routine, which moved her to seventh place in the prelims with a total score of 101.355 and clinched a spot in the finals.

In the finals, Vinsant’s routine featured a Triffus tuck, half Rudi tuck, full in Rudi out straight, double back pike, Rudi out pike, half in half out pike, full Brani pike, half half tuck, half out pike and full full pike. She posted a 54.965 and finished sixth.

"I wanted to make finals, but overall I just wanted to do 20 skills," said Vinsant. "Making it to finals in seventh, I was shocked actually– I thought that was a pretty high standard for me to reach.

"I was very pleased with all of my performances today," she said. "This gives me a lot of confidence. I was the youngest competitor here and making finals really hit the pace for me. I will work to get my difficulty, time of flight and execution better so that I can be up in the medals at the next Olympics."

Canada’s Rosannagh Maclennan earned the gold medal with a score of 57.305, followed by China’s Huang Shanshan (56.730) and He Wenna (55.950), who claimed the silver and bronze medals, respectively.

The trampoline competition features one compulsory and one optional round for the preliminaries, with the top eight advancing to the finals, where one optional routine is performed.

Men’s and women’s gymnastics takes center stage again tomorrow through Tuesday with the individual event finals (Aug. 5-7). Sunday’s events are men’s floor exercise and pommel horse and women’s vault.

The U.S. gymnasts competing in the individual event finals are: men’s floor exercise – Jake Dalton of Reno, Nev./University of Oklahoma; men’s vault – Sam Mikulak of Newport Coast, Calif./University of Michigan; horizontal bar – Danell Leyva of Miami/Team Hilton HHonors (Universal Gymnastics) and Jonathan Horton of Houston/Team Hilton HHonors (Cypress Gymnastics); women’s vault – McKayla Maroney of Long Beach, Calif./All Olympia Gymnastics Center; uneven bars – Gabby Douglas of Virginia Beach, Va./Chow’s Gymnastics; balance beam – Alexandra Raisman of Needham, Mass./Brestyan’s Gymnastics, and Douglas; and women’s floor exercise – Jordyn Wieber of DeWitt, Mich./Gedderts’ Twistars USA, and Raisman.

Women’s Trampoline Medalists
1. Rosannagh Maclennan (Canada), 57.305
2. Huang Shanshan (China), 56.730
3. He Wenna (China), 55.950

 

Ways to follow the Olympic Games include:

  • USAGym.org, the USA Gymnastics official website, is a great source for information about the sport: latest news, the schedule of its premier events, athlete biographies, videos, photo galleries, live scoring from major events and more. USA Gymnastics also has usagymclub.org, which is a resource center for parents of potential and existing gymnasts.
  • TeamUSA.org, the U.S. Olympic Committee’s website will also be a good resource for information on the Team USA in London.
  • Facebook – USA Gymnastics has an official Facebook page, www.facebook.com/USAGymnastics, which carries USA Gymnastics information and activities for fans. The USOC’s official Facebook page is www.facebook.com/USOlympicTeam
  • Twitter – USA Gymnastics has an official Twitter feed — @usagym. The USOC’s Twitter feed is @usolympic.
  • NBCOlympics.com – NBC is the broadcast and web source for coverage and news on the Olympic Games. NBCOlympics.com will carry live coverage of every gymnastics session as well as all sports, and maintain an archive for on-demand coverage. A special "Live Extra" app for smartphones and tablets is available as well. For gymnastics, viewing options will include a single "integrated" feed showing various competitors (akin to watching on TV), plus separate feeds for each apparatus.
    Check your local listings for dates and times in your area here: http://www.nbcolympics.com/tv-listings/index.html.
  • YouTube – USA Gymnastics has an official YouTube Channel, www.youtube.com/usagymnasticsorg, which features routines of the top gymnasts from various events, interviews, etc. The USOC’s YouTube Channel is www.youtube.com/TeamUSA.