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'Insanely pretty' Angelina 'Gelya' Melnikova's beauty wows Internet as ROC gymnast wins bronze

Angelina Melnikova is a celebrated gymnast from Russia and was part of the 2016 team that took home the silver medal at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro

Sunisa Lee won the Olympic women's all-around gymnastics title, edging past Brazilian Rebeca Andrade, who won silver. The bronze medallist was Angelina Melnikova of Team ROC.

Lee, who exceeded fans’ expectations after filling in for Simone Biles, scored 57.433 and became the sixth US woman to claim the all-around title at the Olympic Games. Scoring 57.298, Andrade took home the silver, a first for a South American woman in the women's all-around final. Not far behind, Melnikova scored 57.199.

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Who is Angelina Melnikova?

Angelina Melnikova, 21, is a celebrated gymnast from Russia. Participating in the Tokyo Olympics under the banner of ROC, which stands for Russian Olympic Committee — Russia was ‘banned’ from the Tokyo Olympics over a doping scandal — said: “We still can’t believe it’s happening,” Melnikova said. “The impossible is possible now.”

After the event, where the ROC won the women's team gymnastic final and took the gold medal, Melnikova said, “I tried not to think… I knew that it was depending on me and I was feeling overwhelming happiness and I knew I did it. I knew I had done my job.”

The gymnast was in tears before she even got off the mat, running to embrace her teammates. Moments later, ROC's gold flashed on the scoreboard. “After I landed the last tumbling pass, I understand that we did it," said Melnikova afterward. "I never experienced anything like this in my life, because I knew immediately that we did it, that it was possible for us.”

“I was so focused when I went to the floor," she said. "I did my utmost for that. I knew that I could do it, so I did it. I was sure of myself.”

Melnikova is a veteran of the team. She was part of the 2016 team that took home the silver medal at the summer games in Rio de Janeiro. Melnikova said earlier that they learned of Biles’ withdrawal but tried to stay focused. “This did not distract us,” Melnikova said. “We wanted to do the utmost, so we tried not to think about this.”

The internet was filled with praise for her accomplishments. However, people also seemed to be awestruck with her for another reason. 

“Angelina Melnikova is so fucking pretty she even looks good while doing the jumps,” wrote a Twitter user. “Angelina Melnikova is so insanely pretty,” wrote another person. One Twitter user noted, “I was watching the Olympics like ‘Wow this Angelina Melnikova is beautiful!’ and then searched her name here on Twitter to find out that there's like one million of us simping for her right now.” “Angelina Melnikova literally looks like a marble statue she so beautiful,” wrote one fan.