Japan wins gold in men's gymnastics at Olympics, Americans take bronze

PARIS (AP) — Japan’s men’s gymnastics team has claimed Olympic gold with an epic comeback over its main rivals.

With China poised to capture its first Olympic title in 12 years with one rotation still to go, Japan surged forward to win Paris Olympics men's team competition on Monday after an intense and thrilling duel.

The Japanese, who were more than three points behind before the final apparatus, overtook their rivals after China's Su Weide fell twice from the horizontal bar and Xiao Ruoteng underperformed under pressure. Japan won by a narrow margin of 0.532 points.

He also botched a jump landing 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 worked very hard in this cycle, there were a lot of injuries in the preparation, and because of my mistakes today, we lost the gold medal."

Behind the two powerhouses of men's gymnastics and in the absence of Russia, the Americans took bronze, their first medal since 2008.

The Chinese had dominated the qualifiers ahead of reigning world champions Japan.

They competed in the same group, starting their competition with floor exercise. Aside from Su's error on vault, China was consistent on all apparatus and took the lead halfway through the competition.

In the penultimate rotation, Zhang Boheng scored an impressive 15.100 on the bars and his teammate Zou Jingyuan did even better with a rare score of 16.000.

But Japan always thought it could turn things around. Takaaki Sugino, Shinnosuke Oka and Tokyo Olympic champion Daiki Hashimoto helped the comeback with excellent performances on the horizontal bar, while Sue faltered.

This was Japan's eighth team gold, the first since Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

After qualifying in fifth place, the United States men ended a 16-year drought, much to the delight of dozens of fans who waved American flags and chanted "USA! USA!" throughout the evening.

The Americans scored 257.793 points, edging out Great Britain for bronze. Frederick Richard and Brody Malone were in top form, and every member of the U.S. team contributed. Stefano NedoroscikThe pommel horse specialist joined his teammates in the final rotation.

"I had my coach by my side and he does a great job of taking the nerves off me and pumping me up," Nedoroscik said. "But these guys have done every routine before me and I have a statistic: When people have done it before me, I have done it. So I just went out there and did my job and enjoyed the moment."

Russia, which won gold at the Tokyo Games, did not participate because of its role in the war against Ukraine.

Hashimoto, who appeared to be having trouble with his right shoulder during qualifying, fell midway through his pommel horse routine. He finished better, but looked grim after his dismount. He briefly put his head in his hands, knowing his mediocre score would hurt his team's hopes of winning the gold medal.

Hashimoto recovered quickly and performed a superb vault. After receiving a massage, he then finished the evening with a great routine on the horizontal bar after failing to qualify for the eight-man apparatus final.

“Even though there were some mistakes in our routines, we continued to motivate each other,” Hashimoto said. “I took advantage of my teammates’ passion in my final routine on the high bar.”

After Hashimoto's turn, Zhang had a chance to bring China back into the lead, but his score was not enough.

"In the last part we didn't do as we should have. We ended up with a silver medal, we are really frustrated," Zhang said.

The women's final, with the seven-time Olympic medalist Simone Biles, takes place on Tuesday.

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games