Powerhouse rhythmic gymnast Linoy Ashram won the gold medal in the rhythmic gymnastics individual competition, ending Russia's decades-long dominance in the sport and bringing Israel its second Olympic gold medal.
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Ashram, 22, edged out Russian twins Dina and Arina Averina, who were favorites going into Tokyo. Dina placed second and Arina fell to fourth place. Alina Harnasko of Belarus won the bronze medal.
Russia has swept the rhythmic gymnastics gold medals in every Olympics since 2000.
But Ashram's victory Saturday breaks their streak. Her nearly flawless performance included a club routine set to Beyonce's "Crazy in Love" and dancing with a ribbon to a techno remix of "Hava Nagila."
On Friday, Ashram and fellow teammate Nicol Zelikman both qualified for the final round after each performed four routines, one each with the hoop, ball, clubs, and ribbon.
Ashram's first round had a shaky start. She dropped her hoop at the end of the routine, and received a lesser score of 23.500 points.
She made a comeback with her ball routine, scoring the highest 29.250 points. She received 27.850 and 23.500 points for her club and ribbon performances respectively, gaining 103.100 in the qualifiers altogether. She ranked third in Friday's qualifiers.
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