Ukraine’s Taisiia Onofriichuk delivered a thrilling performance in the women’s rhythmic gymnastics individual all-around qualification stage.
Onofriichuk’s routine during the hoop round involved numerous spins, flips, moonwalking, throwing the hoop in the air and spinning it up and over her limbs. She performed her routine to Michael Jackson’s hit “Thriller” and even mimicked his famous claw-like hand motions from the music video. The crowd loved her performance and clapped along to the music the whole time.
Onofriichuk received a score of 34.250 in the hoop event and later advanced to the individual all-around final. She finished ninth in the final with a total score of 128.400 for her hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon routines.
16-year-old Ukrainian Taisiia Onofriichuk makes everyone go crazy at #Olympics as she performs to Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’
A legendary song, and a future legendary #Ukraine‘s rhythmic gymnast? 🤩#StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/9FKHfaMg4G
— UATV English (@UATV_en) August 8, 2024
Onofriichuk, a 16-year-old from Kyiv, Ukraine, reached the final despite uncertainty if she would even make it to Paris for the Olympics.
“We didn’t know if we would even get here, because during the last attack before we left, we thought we wouldn’t survive,” Iryna Blokhina, a coach and choreographer for the Ukrainian rhythmic gymnastics national team, told Reuters.
Blokhina also said the team struggled during training because Russia’s attacks on Ukraine made it hard for the team to concentrate on their music. The team moved to an area with fewer attacks before going to Vienna to fly to Paris.
Last month, Russian missiles blasted Onofriichuck’s hometown of Kyiv, damaging multiple buildings and injuring 31 people. A children’s hospital was among the buildings hit during the attack, which caused cancer patients to be taken outside in their beds and debris to fall into the open chests of three patients undergoing separate open heart surgeries, the Associated Press reported.
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(Photo: Daniela Porcelli / Eurasia Sport Images / Getty Images)
