The 2016 Olympic Games preview : Dennis Goossens ready to take on the rings!

The 2016 Olympic Games are just a few days away now. It is time for me to try to predict what will happen during our gymnasts' competitions and what we can expect from them. First, let's start with our Lord of the Rings : Dennis Goossens!

Credit: Mathias Hikketik

Dennis Goossens will be the first of our representatives to enter the Olympic arena in Rio on Saturday. As the sole Belgian male gymnast in Brazil, he will compete in a mixed group with gymnasts from Latvia, Israel, Colombia, Belarus, Chile and Turkey. This group will compete in the first subdivision (out of three) of the day and will start on parallel bars. It is well known now that Dennis's best event are the rings and he will only focus on this apparatus in Rio.

The 2016 season has been a success so far for the young gymnast, as he reached two World Cup finals on rings, winning bronze in Cottbus, as well as the European Championships final, placing 7th. Dennis got his Olympic ticket last June, in Rotterdam, where he posted a massive 15.800 and therefore met the selection criteria set by the Federation. Two weeks later, he again scored a great 15.550 in Heerenveen, proving he was in an amazing shape.

Credit: GymFed

Dennis was the first gymnast to fly to Rio on July 25th. He got to experience the life in the Olympic Village and to get in the Games' atmosphere. And given by the great pics posted by GymFed, Dennis seems to really enjoy the Olympic vibe!

Credit: GymFed

The competition on rings will be fierce, as a lot of gymnasts are specialists on that event. The fight for gold will probably be between Greece's Eleftherios Petrounias, Brazil's Arthur Zanetti and China's Hou Yao. Anyway, our Lord of the Rings is ready to compete. 

Reaching the final will be complicated but if Dennis competes like he has been in the past few weeks, I'm absolutely 100% confident he could make it. He would be the first Belgian gymnast ever to qualify for an event final in an Olympic Games, showing that Belgium's MAG gymnasts are on the rise, and at 22, this Olympic experience will be a huge asset for him.

Here is Dennis' schedule (Belgium time):

* Saturday 06/08 - Qualifications

Subdivision 1: 15:30-18:00 (Dennis will compete on rings around 17:00)

Subdivision 2: 19:30-22:00

Subdivision 3: 23:30-02:00

The rings final will take place on Monday, August 15th at 19:00.

Coverage:

Belgium TV should broadcast the qualifications. RTBF (French) and Sporza (Dutch) have the rights for Belgium. If the qualifications are not shown on TV, I've been told it would be on the RTBF website. I'll make sure to keep you updated on a link. I will of course follow the competition and give you updates all day long on how Dennis performed and will give you scores and rankings updates through Facebook and Twitter ! Stay tuned and good luck Dennis!

Full schedule here