Gymnastics Canada  – RIO DE JANEIRO, BRA (August 11, 2016) – Ellie Black of Halifax, NS finished her Rio 2016 Olympic Games on a high note, finishing 5th place overall in the all-around final, Canada’s best-ever result in the event at the Olympic Games. The previous best Canadian result was a 13^th place in the 1984 Olympic Games by Bonnie Wittmeier.

Black improved over her performance during the team qualification round, where she finished 13th overall to advance to the final.  Today, Black finished with a score of 58.298, less than .4 points back of a bronze medal.

“I’m super pleased with what I was able to accomplish. My goal was just to go out there and hit my routines. I’m very happy with the performances I was able to give and I wouldn’t trade that for anything,” said Black following competition. “To be ranked fifth in the world, I mean it’s just a number but I think it was more about going out there and showing the gymnastics that we could do. It’s incredible. I couldn’t be happier with our performances.”

This was the first time since 2004 to have two Canadians competing in an all-around final – Brandon, MB native Isabela Onyshko finished in 18th place scoring 56.365.

“Definitely I thought it was better today.  The score doesn’t reflect that, but that’s okay, that’s out of my hands,” said Onyshko, who also qualified for the beam final later this week. “I’m looking forward to just going out there again and showing a great beam routine. Anything can happen.”

Americans Simone Biles and Alexandra Raisman finished with scores of 62.198 and 60.098 respectively to capture the gold and silver medals. Aliya Mustafina of Russia took bronze with a score of 58.665.

The gymnastics competition continues Friday with women’s trampoline at 1400 BT, followed by men’s trampoline on Saturday at the same time. Sunday will see BC’s Shallon Olsen compete in the vault finals, and Onyshko will wrap up the Olympic gymnastics competition for Canada on Monday in the balance beam final.

For full results, visit: https://live.fig-gymnastics.com/schedule.php?idevent=6405

Click here for the broadcast schedule: http://olympics.cbc.ca/online-listing/

ABOUT GYMNASTICS CANADA

First established in 1969, Gymnastics Canada is the national governing body for the sport of gymnastics in Canada. Gymnastics Canada works closely with the twelve Provincial Federations and the 700 local clubs to provide a broad range of programs and services to meet the needs of all participants. From athlete development, to coaching and judging education, Gymnastics Canada sets the operating standards and practices for the sport in Canada. Our mandate is to promote and provide positive and diverse gymnastics experience through the delivery of quality and safe gymnastics programming. Visit www.gymcan.org for more information, or follow us @CDNgymnastics.

-30-

For more information, contact:

Julie Forget
Director, Communications and Marketing
Gymnastics Canada
Cell: 819.210.2064
Email: jforget@gymcan.org