Rio 2016: Olympic debut ends in disappointment for Ellis O’Reilly

Landing on the flush of your head is not the ideal way of finishing off what is your Olympic debut, and no one knew that better than Ellis O’Reilly.

The 18 year-old had come to Rio largely to gain strength and experience ahead of the future competitions, and while visibly disappointed with the way her all-round gymnastics routine had ended, she may well ultimately if not certainly come away the better for it.

Her last routine, on the beam, had started well she as nailed a double back cartwheel and also a standing back somersault, only when it came to the dismount, O’Reilly misjudged her rotation completely and with that landed more or less upside down.

Her final score was 47.932; it placed her tenth of the 12 competitors in her group, and earlier, she had narrowly missed her personal best of 12.333 on the uneven bars.

Kieran Behan experienced something similar on Saturday evening in what was his second Olympics. He finished 38th overall in his artistic gymnastics qualification, only his last routine, on the floor, ended in obvious agony as his dislocated his kneecap earlier in the routine, yet somehow managed to stay on his two legs until the end.

Earlier, his 12.866 on the pommel horse was at least a personal best, and he finished with a final tally of 83.232.