Ryan Patterson (born 10 January 1994) is a South African male

artistic gymnast Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different types of apparatus. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which assigns the '' Code of Points'' used ...

who qualified to compete at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

held in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, Brazil.

Personal life

Patterson was born on 10 January 1994. He has dual South African and United States citizenship. He attended the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

in the United States.

Gymnastics

Paterson represented South Africa at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics held in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, where he finished 33rd in the men's artistic qualification with a total score of 77.700. Patterson finished 72nd at the

2014 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 2014 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships was held in Nanning, China at the Guangxi Gymnasium from 3–12 October 2014. The competition was the fourth time a World Artistic Gymnastics Championships has been held in the continent of Asia. ...

, held in

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

, China, with a total score of 81.373; he scored 14.766 on the floor, 12.333 for the

pommel horse The pommel horse, also known as vaulting horse, is an artistic gymnastics apparatus. Traditionally, it is used by only male gymnasts. Originally made of a metal frame with a wooden body and a leather cover, the modern pommel horse has a metal bo ...

, 13.333 on the rings, 14.400 for the vault, 13.100 on the parallel bars and 13.441 on the horizontal bar. At the

2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships was the 46th edition of the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships. The competition was held from 23 October – 1 November 2015 at The SSE Hydro in Glasgow, United Kingdom, and is the first time ...

, held in

Glasgow, United Kingdom Glasgow is the most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in west central Scotland. It is the third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom and the 27th-most-populous city in Europe, and comprises 23 wards w ...

he finished 73rd out of 182 in the men’s all-around qualifications with a total score of 82.132 across the six apparatus. Patterson was the highest finishing African athlete ahead of Algerian Bourguieg Mohamed Abdeldjalil who placed 83rd. This earned Patterson a place at the Rio Olympic Test Event in 2016. In 2016, Patterson became the first male South African gymnast to qualify for the Olympics in 50 years. At the Olympic Test Event, held in the Rio Olympic Arena, he scored an all-around total of 82.932 to finish 44th overall and secure the international qualification standard for the men's competition at the

to be held in Rio de Janeiro. However, the

South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) () is the National Olympic Committee (NOC) and National Paralympic Committee (NPC) for South Africa, and the responsible body for South Africa at the Commonwealth Games. It i ...

(SASCOC) still had to confirm his nomination to compete. His participation was confirmed by SASCOC on 11 May 2016. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, he finished 46th out of 49 in the men's all-around qualifications with a total score of 80.690. He did not advance to any finals.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Patterson, Ryan 1994 births Living people South African male artistic gymnasts People from Pacifica, California Sportspeople from San Mateo County, California Gymnasts at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics University of California, Berkeley alumni Gymnasts at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic gymnasts for South Africa African Games silver medalists for South Africa African Games medalists in gymnastics South African gymnasts Gymnasts at the 2015 African Games 21st-century South African sportsmen