RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Russia's Aliya Mustafina finally ended the American women's stranglehold at the Rio Games as she captured the asymmetric bars gold for a second successive Olympics with a routine full of grace and power.
Until Mustafina mounted the bars, the United States had swept the board as Simone Biles scooped the team, all around and vault golds.
With this being the only final not featuring Biles, her team mate and world champion Madison Kocian had hopes of continuing the American gold rush as she had earned the highest score in qualifying.
But she could not beat Mustafina's score of 15.900 and had to settle for silver.
Germany's Sophie Scheder burst into tears after claiming a surprise bronze.
Gabby Douglas, the 2012 all around champion, failed to add to her tally of three gold medals from two Games as a slight hesitation during a transition element on the higher of the two bars left her seventh out of eight finalists with a score of 15.066.