Son Yeon-jae finishes fifth in rhythmic gymnastics

 Held back by a mediocre routine, South Korean Son Yeon-jae finished shy of the country's first rhythmic gymnastics medal Saturday.

Son finished fifth in the individual all-around final at Wembley Arena, scoring 111.475 points combined from hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon routines. She finished only 0.225 points behind the bronze medalist, Liubov Charkashyna of Belarus.

Evgeniya Kanaeva of Russia won the gold medal at 116.000 points, and her compatriot Daria Dmitrieva claimed silver at 114.500.

Son, 18, was the first South Korean to even compete in the Olympic rhythmic gymnastics final. She was among the top five in the field in hoop, ball and ribbon, but was only good for ninth in clubs.

During the routine, Son failed to catch both clubs that she threw up in the air, and scored 26.750 points.

She had 28.050 points in hoop, 28.325 in ball and 28.350 in ribbon. Son later said she gave up hopes of a medal when she failed to get her grip on the clubs.

"I was disappointed with my clubs routine, but I am still happy to finish fifth in the final," Son said. "I just thought maybe it wasn't my time to win a medal."

Son was the youngest gymnast in the final. She said she wants to "become greedier" for a medal in the next Olympics.

"I can't believe I've actually come in fifth at an Olympics," she said. "This has given me confidence that I can compete. I want to be able to enjoy myself more from now on."

(Yonhap News)