'Oh! Straight over the barrier!' - Rong Ge crashes, celebrates after big air jump at Beijing Winter Olympics

ByDan Quarrell

Published 14/02/2022 at 10:53 GMT

Rong Ge amused the crowd with an accidental flip over the finish barrier at the bottom of the slope before milking the moment with a nod to the crowd and a pause for the cameras. "Oh! She is straight over the finish barrier!" exclaimed Ian Findlay, on commentary for Eurosport at the time. "There is the photo there - quickly! Get the shot! Well, she was under so much pressure."

Top snowboarder Rong Ge delivered the entertainment in a number of ways during the women's big air competition at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

The star from China ended the qualifying session of the event with 129.75 points to finish in ninth place and comfortably secure her progression through to the final.

Rong delivered scores of 10.75, 64.00 and 65.75 from her three efforts at the Big Air Shougang venue in Beijing.

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But she also amused the crowd with an accidental flip over the finish barrier at the bottom of the slope before milking the moment with a nod to the crowd and a pause for the cameras.

"Oh! She is straight over the finish barrier!" exclaimed Ian Findlay, on commentary for Eurosport at the time.

"There is the photo there - quickly! Get the shot!

"Well, she was under so much pressure. She has shown that she is made of tough stuff."

Lesley McKenna added: "She does not know what to do now! That was awesome; that was huge.

"She had so much speed there - obviously not able to get rid of the speed before she hit the barriers. I'm glad she is okay. She has put herself in the final."

It was a classic moment of both sporting brilliance and also the drama and fun that can often come with it. The fact that Rong embraced the fall, was unharmed and also got the crowd involved made it all the better.

Snowboarding slopestyle champions Max Parrot and Zoi Sadowski-Synnott both qualified for the finals in their respective categories, whilst Team GB’s Katie Ormerod was unable to qualify.

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After her opening run of the women’s category, Sadowski-Synnott sat at the top of the leaderboard after delivering an effort worth 85.50 points.

She qualified after delivering a big 176.50 to ease into contention for a second gold medal of the games, whilst Japan duo Kokomo Murase and Reira Iwabuchi finished second and third, scoring 171 and 158.50 respectively.

Team GB’s Ormerod left herself with work to do on her remaining runs after her first attempt scored 14.75, and went into the second run in 22nd place as she struggled to get enough speed to manage a landing, despite showing great amplitude and grab.

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