Tokyo (AFP)
Two days after the fall of King Uchimura during qualifying, Japan experienced a new disappointment in the gymnastics events of the Tokyo Olympics: it had its men's Olympic title stolen by the Russian team.
If Russia, which participates in these Olympics under a neutral banner as part of the sanctions for its involvement in a vast doping scandal, won silver at the Rio Olympics, behind Japan, it had not seen the color of Olympic gold since the Atlanta Games in 1996, 25 years.
This title is not however a surprise, because she was crowned world champion in 2019.
Under the name "ROC" (for Russian Olympic Committee), it won with 262.500 points, ahead of Japan (262.397 pts) and China (261.894 pts).
On Saturday, Japan had experienced a disappointment after the failure of its star, Kohei Uchimura, double Olympic champion in the all-around, who failed to qualify on the horizontal bar after a fall.
He was part of the Olympic champion team in Rio but the one that finished in silver on Monday is new.
With Daiki Hashimoto as leader, who shone in qualifying, Japan had yet started the competition on floor and led in the score in this event where each team totals the scores of three gymnasts on the six men's apparatus (floor, horse of pommels, rings, vault, parallel bars, horizontal bar).
- "The typhoon has arrived" -
The case got tough as soon as they got onto the second apparatus, the Russians coming back in front after their performances on the rings.
They continued to take the lead on the next piece of equipment, the vault.
The Russian Nikita Nagornyy, crowned European champion of the all-around competition last spring, recording a score of 14.966 points.
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"Did you hear about the typhoon this morning? The typhoon has arrived, we won the medal, so don't worry about the typhoon anymore," joked, referring to the tropical storm approaching Japan, Nikita Nagornyy after the ceremony medal ceremony.
"I was concerned that the judges might want to give the medal to the host country," he added, more seriously.
His teammate Artur Dalaloyan, just back from a ruptured Achilles tendon, also shone, with a jump noted at 14.933 points.
After parallel bars, Russia widened the gap and relegated Japan to more than three points.
China took the opportunity to pass in front of Japan.
The gaps narrowed on the last two passages to give a breathtaking finish, foreshadowing the all-around individual competition between Daiki Hashimoto and Nikita Nagornyy, respectively 1st and 2nd in qualifying.
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On the floor, Nikita Nagornyy, of which it is one of the specialties, made an impeccable movement, the Japanese on the horizontal bar doing the same.
"We knew that we had to do well on the ground. We knew that in this case we would have a medal, we did not yet know the color", reacted the Russian Denis Abliazin.
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