Top 10 Gymnastics Moments from Rio

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – AUGUST 17: Oleg Verniaiev of Ukraine performs during the Gymnastics Rio Gala on Day 12 of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games on August 17, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

2. Ukraine’s head-scratching scratch in Team Finals

So, Ukraine did a weird thing. On each of the six rotations, Ukraine’s Maksym Semiankiv walked up to the apparatus, placed his hands on it, then bowed and walked away. A scratch. His scores would be zero.

Was it an intentional scratch?

Is he injured?

Maybe they did it in Protest of the International Gymnastics Federation for what happened in 2012? Back Story: Ukraine lost a medal after Japan contested the scores and they were overturned.

Whatever the reason, it was strange, and something you’d only ever see in a movie (Think: Jeff Bridges’ film “Stick It”). Regardless, Ukraine took zeroes on all apparatus’ in the team final and ended in dead last- 72 points behind first place Japan. See, each team has to put up three gymnasts on each apparatus and all three scores count. So if one gymnast fails to compete, they don’t have someone to fall back on. Now, why they didn’t just put someone else in Semiankiv’s place is beyond me, but I have a feeling we’ll never truly understand what happened in the arena that day. It’s too bad, too, because another team who just missed qualification could have competed, had they known Ukraine would act out.

To redeem themselves and try to erase the embarrassment from the team finals, Oleg Verniaiev (above) took silver in the men’s all-around final.

Next: Romanian Women's Team Doesn't Qualify