The 2021 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships took place from Oct. 18 to Oct. 24, and it resulted in five medals for Team USA; history for countries like Ireland, the Philippines, and the United States; and statement-making moments. Korean gymnast Shin Solyi showed up to the qualifying rounds earlier in the week with a floor routine set to a “strings” version of “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen.
Seen above via the International Gymnastics Federation’s FIG Channel, the routine features sweet — and booming — melodies we all know and love, choreography that flows along with the peaks and troughs of the orchestra, and great tumbling. She does a full-twisting double backflip in a piked position as her opening pass, a front layout to a double-twisting front layout, a roundoff to a one-and-a-half layout and a front full, and a double pike to close out the performance. She received a score of 13.1.
The 17-year-old was first reserve for the final floor competition — meaning she was on call to replace a top-eight gymnast who had qualified if needed — but she went through to the separate all-around final, finishing in 11th place. It is always fun to hear recognizable music on the world stage, since it’s not every day that an elite gymnast has a popular song in their floor routine (NCAA gymnastics is another story). Any way the wind blows, we’d watch this again!