2024-08-01 21:35:01
PARIS, FRANCE – JULY 31: (L-R) Bronze medalist Xiao Ruoteng of Team People’s Republic of China, Gold … [+]
In a nail-biting Olympic men’s gymnastics all-around final on Wednesday, the top 24 scorers from Saturday’s qualification took to the mat. But only Japan and China turned up victorious, grabbing gold, silver and bronze with scores that were less than five tenths apart.
Japan’s Shinnosuke Oka took the gold medal with a score of 86.832, China’s Zhang Boheng grabbed silver (86.599) and China’s Xiao Ruoteng finished with bronze (86.364). The reigning Olympic all-around champion Daiki Hashimoto of Japan placed sixth, and Team USA’s Paul Juda and Frederick Richard placed 14th and 15th, respectively. Boheng, Oka and Hashimoto entered the meet as favorites after going one, two and three in the men’s qualifier.
PARIS, FRANCE: JULY 29: Fredrick Richard of the United States performs his floor routine during the … [+]
In the men’s all-around competition, there are six events: floor, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars and high bar. As for scoring, each gymnast has a difficulty and execution score to determine the overall score on each of the six events. Each of those scores are added up for the all-around score.
Rotation One: Richard And Boheng Suffer Early Falls
Team USA standout Richard had an unfortunate start to the competition. He slipped and fell off the pommel horse, immediately dropping him out of medal contention (12.733). Boheng, the leader from the qualification round, also had a rocky start on floor and fell on his 3.5 twist to a front half after coming up short and hitting his head on the ground. While he was able to finish the routine, he only scored a 13.233.
Oka put up an impressive 14.566 on floor after displaying a full-twisting double layout, front full to a Randi (2.5 twist) stuck, stuck double-double, stuck double full and a 2.5. Hashimoto also stunned the crowd with a floor routine that included a huge triple-double (same pass that Team USA’s Simone Biles competes), a stuck double-double, front full to Randi, stuck double-full, 2.5 twist punch front layout, and stuck triple full to score a 14.633. Great Britain standout Jake Jarman gave the judges a wow factor with his laid-out triple-double, 2.5 to front double tuck, stuck triple-double back, triple-full, front full to Randi, and 3.5 twist for a 14.900 (6.6 difficulty).
Jarman took the early lead (14.9), Oleg Verniaiev of Ukraine in second (14.833) and Hashimoto tied for third with Illia Kovtun of Ukraine (14.633).
Rotation Two: Reigning Olympic All-Around Champ Hashimoto Falls
Paul Juda scored a 13.733 on vault after under-rotating his Kasamatsu 1.5, which was a major difference from his spectacular vault in team finals. Hashimoto had a shocking fall off the pommel horse and scored only a 12.966 to drop him out of earning a spot on the podium. Oka moved into first place after a 14.500 on pommel horse, Jarman moved back to second and Felix Dolci of Canada moved up to third.
Rotation Three: Dolci Breaks His Grip On High Bar Routine
Dolci fell off of the high bar in what appeared to be a broken grip. In his second attempt, he fell off again before finishing the routine for a 11.733 to drop him out of third. Oka held onto first place after scoring a 13.866 on rings, Verniaiev moved back into second after a 14.4 on vault and Ruoteng surged into third after a strong 13.8 on the rings.
Rotation Four: Ukraine’s Verniaiev And Kovtun In First And Second
Jarman vaulted a Kasamatsu 2.5 for a huge score of 15.666 while Hashimoto performed a Kasamatsu double vault to secure a 14.766. Over on parallel bars, Team USA’s Richard stuck his double front dismount for a 14.133. Ukraine’s Verniaiev moved to first place after a 15.0 on parallel bars, and teammate Kovtun in second after a huge 15.4. Ruoteng held onto third after performing a Kasamatsu double (14.833).
Rotation Five: Boheng Bounces Back To Second
Kovtun dismounted a laid-out double-double off the high bar for a 13.833, while parallel bars performances shook up the leaderboard once again. Oka moved into first after a 15.1, Ruoteng moved up from third to second with a 14.766 and Boheng came back into medal contention after a big 15.300.
Sixth And Final Rotation: Japan And China Take The Podium
All three leaders headed to the high bar, and it all came down to this. Ruoteng scored a 14.366, and Oka secured a 14.500 after a laid-out double-double. Boheng stuck his laid-out double-double dismount for a 14.633, but it isn’t quite good enough for gold. Oka takes the gold, Boheng grabs the silver and Ruoteng brings home bronze.
