(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 2- Italy's Vanessa Ferrari won the silver medal in the floor exercise gymnastics event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics on Monday.
It is the 30-year-old's first Olympic medal.
The 2006 all-around world champion is taking part in her fourth Summer Games.
"I went out aiming for gold," Ferrari said.
"I wanted to make them play the anthem".
"My American rival started with a higher score. I focused on the execution but I had some problems with my feet".
She said the achievement made up for her narrowly missing out on a medal in the London 2012 Olympics.
In London she came joint third in the floor final with Aliya Mustafina, with 14.900 points, but Mustafina was awarded the bronze medal as tie-breaking procedures prioritized execution score
"That was the third place that never was," she said.
Italy is now certain of beating the 28 medals it won at the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2012 London Games.
Ferrari's silver was Italy's 28th at Toyko 2020 and the team is set to land either a gold or a silver in the final of the Nacra-17 sailing.
At the moment Italy has four golds, nine silvers and 15 bronzes.