The trick leading into the Games was to pick if the world champion could replicate past performances and score perfect 10s. The other guessing game involved the judging. Not quite, but again the adjudication was questioned. The first shock was Kabaeva. Kabaeva momentarily lost her poise and chased after it, then finished her routine with the elegance for which she is renowned. ''I just carried on regardless.
All people make mistakes.
I just had to not show it and move forward,'' she said after the decisive error. Instead, the day belonged to fellow Russian Yulia Barsukova. Barsukova qualified third for the final and kept improving with a 9.883 on rope and finishing her fourth apparatus ribbon with a 9.933. The only gymnast to score higher was Kabaeva who, despite the overwhelming disappointment with the hoop, kept grinning to score successive 9.950s with the ball and ribbon. In the end it was enough to earn her the bronze with a total of 39.466.