Women's balance beam competition at the 2008 Summer Olympics was held on August 19 at the Beijing National Indoor Stadium.
The eight competitors (with a maximum of two per nation) with the highest scores in qualifying proceeded to the women's balance beam finals. There, each gymnast performed again; the scores from the final round (ignoring qualification) determined final ranking.
Medalists Gold Silver Bronze
Final Position Gymnast Country A score B score Penalty Total Shawn Johnson 7.000 9.225 16.225 Nastia Liukin 6.600 9.425 16.025 Cheng Fei 6.800 9.150 15.950 4 Anna Pavlova 6.800 9.100 15.900 5 Gabriela Drăgoi 6.500 9.125 15.625 6 Li Shanshan 7.000 8.300 15.300 7 Ksenia Afanasyeva 5.800 9.025 14.825 8 Koko Tsurumi 6.300 8.150 14.450
Qualified competitors Position Gymnast A scoreScoring in artistic gymnastics is based on two separate scores that are then combined in order to come to the final score. The A score measures the difficulty of each element (and combinations of elements) within the routine, while the B score evaluates the performance, ie, the "execution, composition and artistry" of the routine. For further information, please see the Code of Points article. B score Penalty Total 1 7.000 9.125 16.125 2 6.600 9.375 15.975 3 6.900 9.075 15.975 4 6.700 9.275 0.100 15.875 5 6.700 9.125 15.825 6 6.600 9.175 15.775 7 6.500 8.950 15.450 8 6.500 8.925 15.425
Only two gymnasts per country may advance to an event final. The following gymnasts scored high enough to qualify, but did not do so because two gymnasts from their country had already qualified ahead of them:
(4th place) (8th place) (9th place) (10th place) (11th place)
The eventual final qualifier had the 13th highest balance beam score overall during qualification.
References Notes
Sources Balance beam final results Balance beam qualification results NYT Report