Japan take gymnastics gold after China meltdown as Team GB finish fourth

As the final rotation of the gymnastics men’s team final began, the Chinese team seemed almost certain to ­finish Monday as Olympic gold medallists. After dominating the qualifying on Saturday, they had established a commanding three-point lead over Japan with three routines to go. Both teams closed out the competition on the horizontal bar, where China had outscored Japan. With plenty of room for error, all they had to do was remain relatively solid to secure their win.

However, when attempting to execute some of the most difficult gymnastics skills in the world under suffocating pressure, things can quickly fall apart. What followed was a meltdown of the ages. First Xiao Ruoteng, the Chinese veteran, landed his dismount to his knees, stumbling forward before regaining his balance. Then came Su Weide, a 24-year-old in his first Olympic Games, who fell twice. First he peeled off the horizontal bar, then, after regrasping the bar, he immediately tumbled again.

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As chaos reigned in the final ­minutes of the team final and China crumbled, a gutsy Japanese team pulled off a dramatic last-minute comeback to win the first artistic gymnastics gold of the Olympic Games. With a score of 259.594, the Japanese team triumphed over China by .532 points.

While the Chinese team rued their second place finish, an incredibly solid United States celebrated a brilliant bronze medal, their first men’s team medal since 2008. Great Britain, meanwhile, finished 1.8 points behind the USA in fourth place. Despite performing well and counting only one fall, the British team were outperformed by a more well-rounded American team.

For around two hours and 15 ­minutes in the Bercy Arena, China looked imperious. As they marched through the different apparatus firing down excellent routines, a large gap had opened up early to the Japanese team after a dramatic fall on the pommel horse from Daiki Hashimoto, the reigning all-around champion.

But the men’s team final is such a brutal test of mental endurance and after over two hours of focus and attention, and so often these contests are decided in the very last breath. Three years ago in Tokyo, the team final also came down to the final rotation between Russia and Japan, with 18 routines from each of the top two teams separated by 0.103 points.

This time, the pressure was too much for the leaders. As Xiao and Su both struggled and the door opened for a comeback, Takaaki Sugino and Shinnosuke Oka of Japan performed extremely solid horizontal bar routines under pressure.

The fate of the men’s team final eventually rested on the shoulders of Hashimoto, who had struggled on the apparatus. This time, he answered the call by performing an excellent routine to seal Olympic gold.

“I felt the rest of the team was all behind me, they had my back,” he said. “They pushed me on to the stage. I was almost crying before the performance.”

As the Japanese team celebrated on the competition floor, ­brandishing their flag and waving to family, friends and supporters in the crowd, a tearful Chinese team departed the competition floor in single file with their heads bowed.

Japan replace Russia as Olympic team champions, with the ­Russian team banned this year in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In Tokyo, the team was anchored by Nikita Nagornyy, also the ­Olympic all‑around bronze medallist. Nagornyy is also head of the Young Army Cadets National Movement in Russia. Last month, Nagornyy was added to the US’s individual ­sanctions list for his work in that organisation due to being “responsible for the forced militarization and ­re-education of Ukraine’s children”.

Like China, the US team’s brilliant day could have unravelled on the final rotation as they headed to the perilous pommel horse. But the US remained extremely solid throughout. The final routine came down to Stephen Nedoroscik, the team’s pommel horse specialist and the 2021 world champion on the apparatus. He had just one routine to contribute all night after two and a half hours of competition but he maintained his composure and helped a young US team to a well-deserved bronze medal.

“It was hard,” Max Whitlock of Great Britain said afterwards. “I’m really gutted actually. Fourth is always difficult, we’ve come fourth quite a few times at the Olympic Games now. Right now, it feels quite raw but overall we can be quite proud. Looking at each and every performance we’ve done, we did everything we possibly could.”

The British men will have eight individual finals to contest in the coming days, starting with Jake Jarman and Joe Fraser in the men’s all‑around final on Wednesday. Whitlock’s score of 15.266 on the pommel horse, meanwhile, is the highest of the competition so far.