Gymnastics Star

[Anchor Lead]

Rhythmic gymnast Son Yeon-jae begins her journey toward Korea's first Olympic medal in rhythmic gymnastics at the individual all-around preliminary round on Friday. Here’s more in our next report from Rio.

[Pkg]

This is the stage of dreams where Son Yeon-jae will attempt to win Korea's first medal in rhythmic gymnastics. Her practice session at the actual venue was conducted to simulate real competition conditions. Scheduled to appear 10th in the preliminaries lineup, Son checked her ball, hoop, ribbon, and clubs routines in the order she will be performing on Friday. She worked on emphasizing her expressions, one of her strengths, while carefully going over each movement. She made one mistake during her ribbon routine, but finished the practice largely satisfied with her performance. Son is expected to have little trouble winning a place in the finals round, given to only the ten highest scorers in the preliminaries.

[Soundbite] Son Yeon-jae(Korean Nat’l Rhythmic Gymnast Team) : "It was my first practice at the Arena. I want to maintain my condition so that I can compete without regret."

Son was seen checking the height of the ceiling and venue lighting and quickly adapting to the Rio Olympic Arena's environment. With her final rehearsal over, she is now waiting for the moment of truth.