Germany's Varfolomeev wins individual all-around gold

Germany's Darja Varfolomeev won the gold medal in the Olympic rhythmic gymnastics individual all-around final on Friday, becoming the first athlete from her country to take the title.

It was also the first time Germany had medalled in rhythmic gymnastics at all since Regina Weber took the bronze at the Los Angeles 1984 Games, before reunification. Varfolomeev scored 142.850 points overall, 2.250 ahead of Bulgaria's Boryana Kaleyn who took the silver.

The 17-year-old Varfolomeev did not celebrate her victory immediately even as the German supporters cheered. Instead, looking sombre, she walked over to her compatriot Margarita Kolosov to console her for losing out on bronze to Italy's Sofia Raffaeli.

An Olympic medal event since Los Angeles in 1984, rhythmic gymnastics sees athletes perform manoeuvres while using hoops, balls, clubs and ribbons.

In a more than three-hour final, 10 women each performed four routines to music from Lady Gaga's "Bad romance" to Dream on" by Aerosmith and "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" from the film Mary Poppins at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena in Paris.

Russian-born Varfolomeev, the world number one, fumbled her hoop routine in qualifying on Thursday but she more than redeemed herself in Friday's final with the highest hoop score of the day, 36.300.

Her best apparatus score was 36.500 for her ball routine where she exhibited impressive control throughout and kept a smile on her face.

Varfolomeev's ribbon performance was dramatic and mesmerizing as she snaked, twirled and pirouetted her way through her last routine to get a score of 33.700.