Where EAST meets the Northwest
FINAL FLIP. Daiki Hashimoto of Japan competes on the rings during the men’s
artistic gymnastics competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.
The Japanese men’s gymnastics team claimed Olympic gold with an epic comeback
over its top rival. It was Japan’s eighth team gold and first since 2016. (AP
Photo/Francisco Seco)
GYMNASTICS TWIST. Daiki Hashimoto of Japan competes on the rings during the
men’s artistic gymnastics competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris,
France. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
From The Asian Reporter, V34, #8 (August 5, 2024), page 13.
Japan surges past China for Olympics men’s gymnastics team
gold, Americans end drought with bronze
By Samuel Petrequin
The Associated Press
PARIS — The Japanese men’s gymnastics team claimed Olympic gold with an epic
comeback over its top rival.
With China poised to claim its first Olympic title in 12 years with one
rotation to go, Japan surged ahead to win the Paris Olympics men’s team
competition after an intense and nail-biting duel.
The Japanese, who trailed by more than three points going into the last
apparatus, overtook their rivals after China’s Su Weide fell twice off the
horizontal bar and Xiao Ruoteng underperformed under pressure. Japan won with a
small margin of 0.532 points.
Su also botched a landing on vault earlier in the evening. He took the blame
for the bitter defeat.
"Today taught me a big lesson," Su said. "It’s a big regret. I feel sorry for
my senior partners on the team. They have worked very hard in this cycle, there
were a lot of injuries in the buildup, and because of my errors today, we lost
the gold medal."
Behind the two powerhouses of men’s gymnastics and in the absence of Russia,
the Americans earned bronze for their first medal since 2008.
The Chinese had dominated qualifying ahead of Japan, the reigning world
champion.
They faced off in the same group, starting their competition on floor
exercise. Su’s mistake on vault aside, China had been consistent on all
apparatuses and took the lead midway through the competition.
In the penultimate rotation, Zhang Boheng posted an impressive 15.100 on the
parallel bars and teammate Zou Jingyuan did even better with a rare 16.000.
But Japan always felt it could turn things around. Takaaki Sugino, Shinnosuke
Oka, and Tokyo Olympics all-around champion Daiki Hashimoto helped the comeback
with excellent displays on the horizontal bar, while Su faltered.
It was Japan’s eighth team gold and first since Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
After qualifying in fifth place, the U.S. men ended a 16-year drought to the
delight of the dozens of fans waving American flags who chanted "USA! USA!"
throughout the evening.
The Americans posted a total of 257.793 points to edge Britain for the
bronze. Frederick Richard and Brody Malone were at the top of their game, and
every member of the U.S. team contributed. Stephen Nedoroscik, the pommel horse
specialist, joined his teammates on the final rotation.
"I had my coach by my side and he does a great job of taking the nerves out
of (me) and he hypes me up," Nedoroscik said. "But these guys hit every routine
before me and I have a statistic — when people hit before me, I also hit. So I
went out there and did my job and I enjoyed the moment."
Russia, which won gold at the Tokyo Games, did not compete because of its
role in the war against Ukraine.
Hashimoto, who had appeared to be dealing with right shoulder discomfort
during qualifying, fell midway through his pommel horse routine. He finished
better but put on a somber face after his dismount. He briefly put his head in
his hands, knowing that his mediocre score would dent his team’s hopes of a gold
medal.
Hashimoto recovered quickly and delivered an excellent vault. After getting a
massage, he then capped his evening with a great routine on the horizontal bar
after failing to qualify for the eight-man apparatus final.
"Even though there were some errors in our routines, we kept on motivating
each other," Hashimoto said. "I used the passion of my teammates on my final
routine on the high bar."
After Hashimoto’s turn, Zhang had a chance to put China back in charge but
his score was not enough.
"In the last part we did not perform as well as we should have. We end with a
silver medal, we are indeed frustrated," Zhang said.
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