Mohedano & Her Teammates Give Spain Its First Rhythmic Gymnastics Medal in 20 Years

2016 Rio Games

Lourdes Mohedano has helped bring Spain back into the medal circle in rhythmic gymnastics…

The 21-year-old Spanish group rhythmic gymnast and her teammates claimed the silver in the Women’s Team All-Around at the 2016 Rio Games, putting Spain back on the medal podium after a 20 year absence.

Lourdes Mohedano at Spain's Rhythmic Gymnastics Team

Trailing overnight, Russia outperformed their rivals on Sunday to claim a fifth straight Olympic gold, pushing Spain into silver and Bulgaria into bronze.

The Spaniards eventually returned to the podium for the first time since 1996 with a silver.

Russia’s two-round total of 36.233 was good enough to survive a serious scare from Spain, which led qualifying on Saturday and was on top again after ribbons. Spain, which won the first Olympic gold awarded in the sport when it was introduced at the 1996 Atlanta Games, was hardly complaining about the outcome.

Four years ago the Spanish were a close fourth.

Lourdes Mohedano at Spain's Rhythmic Gymnastics Team

A medal of any color would have been fine, though even they were taken aback when they found themselves on top of the leaderboard during qualifying.

“Yesterday came as a surprise to us,” Alejandra Quereda said. “Of course we worked toward a medal but we didn’t expect things to happen like that. For us, a silver medal tastes like gold to us.”

It also raised the stakes heading toward the 2020 Tokyo Games. Russia remains on top, though the gap may finally be closing.

“Nobody is undefeatable,” Quereda said. “We could see that yesterday. Yes, Russia is strong in rhythmic gymnastics but we’re getting there.”

Belmonte Earns Her First Olympic Gold Medal at the 2016 Rio Games

2016 Rio Games

Mireia Belmonte is officially Spain’s swimming sensation…

The 25-year-old Spanish swimmer raced her way to first place in the Women’s 200 Meter Butterfly at the 2016 Rio Games on Wednesday to become the first Spanish woman to win an Olympic swimming gold medal.

Mireia Belmonte

Belmonte, a two-time silver medalist at the 2012 London Games, went a step better than she did at the 2012 Summer Olympics with a winning time of two minutes, 4.85 seconds, the fastest time so far this year.

Australia’s Madeline Groves, who went into the race with the fastest time of 2016, took the silver medal and Japan’s world champion Natsumi Hoshi won bronze.

Belmonte’s gold completed the medal set for Belmonte, who won a bronze in the Women’s 400 Individual Medley on Saturday, and was also the first for Spain in any sport at the Rio Games.

Mireia Belmonte

A silver medalist also in the 800m freestyle four years ago, her four-medal career haul makes her Spain’s most successful swimmer, though victory was still a haze for her after the race.

“I’m still nervous. Nothing comes to mind,” she said when asked what she was thinking about. “The truth is it’s everything I dreamed of and it’s all happened so quickly.”

Her victory was the first for Spain in the Olympic pool since Martin Lopez Zubero won the men’s 200 backstroke at the 1992 Barcelona Games.

She still had to work hard for victory, with Groves leading at the first turn after Hoshi had made the fastest start from the blocks.

Groves was also ahead at the halfway stage but Belmonte came back strongly and dashed her rival’s hopes of becoming the first Australian to win the event since Susan O’Neill at the 1996 Atlanta Games.