Nina Derwael of Belgium took advantage of her top rival’s mistakes and nerves during the uneven bars final to win the gold medal in her specialty.
Derwael, a two-time uneven bars world champion, did not perform as well on bars as she had in qualifying last week, when she finished first, but her routine was good enough — and difficult enough — for her to win. She glided above, under and between the bars and scored 15.2 points.
Anastasiia Iliankova was second, with 14.833 points, to win the silver medal. Sunisa Lee of the United States won the bronze, with 14.5 points.
The Belgian winner was supposed to vie for the gold with Lee, who also is an uneven bars specialist. Lee usually has the hardest uneven bars routine in the world and is rewarded for it with a high score.