Paris 2024 Olympic Games – Artistic Gymnastics – Men’s Qualification – Division 2 – Bercy Arena, Paris, France – July 27, 2024. Team China stands up before performing.
16:35 JST, July 28, 2024
PARIS (AP) — Old rivals in men’s gymnastics, China and Japan, appear set to once again be locked in a neck-and-neck race at the Olympic Games.
The sport’s two superpowers topped the qualifiers at the Bercy Arena on Saturday. China, seeking its fourth Olympic team title, posted a team total of 263,028. Japan, seven-time Olympic champions, finished second with 260,594.
The five-man Chinese team had to do without the experienced Sun Wei, who was injured during training on Thursday. With a series of spectacular exercises on rings and bridges, the team managed to profile themselves as favorites for the final on Monday.
Japan, the reigning world champions, had to make do with some uncharacteristic mistakes from current world and Olympic gold medallist Daiki Hashimoto, but still finished well ahead of third-placed Great Britain.
While the 22-year-old Hashimoto will have the chance to defend his all-around title, he will not do so on the high bar — his signature event — after he stumbled during his dismount. Hashimoto appeared to be struggling with discomfort in his right shoulder for much of the afternoon and was treated by a Team Japan trainer shortly after the silent rings ended, though he said afterward that he was not injured.
Hashimoto is currently third in the all-around after two subdivisions with 85.064, behind teammate Shinnousuke Oka (86.865) and China’s Zhang Boheng (88.597).
Paris 2024 Olympic Games – Artistic Gymnastics – Men’s Qualification – Division 2 – Bercy Arena, Paris, France – July 27, 2024. Daiki Hashimoto, Kazuma Kaya, Shinnosuke Oka, Takaaki Sugino and Wataru Tanigawa of Japan celebrate after the qualification.
The scores for the team final are reset, but the only real question is who will join China and Japan on the podium, as reigning champions Russia are excluded due to the war in Ukraine.
The Japanese settled for silver in their home match in Tokyo in 2021, but lost in a thrilling final by just over a tenth of a point to the Russians, while China took bronze by a slightly longer margin.
“It was frustrating,” said Japan’s Kazuma Kaya. “But we kept practicing every day for success today. Next time, in (the team final), I want the gold medal.”
Gold isn’t the only medal up for grabs. Bronze is also a toss-up, though Britain made a strong showing by winning the first subdivision, a group that included the USA. Ukraine overcame a nightmarish set on the high bar to edge past the US into fourth place with 253.893, while the Americans finished fifth with 253.229.
Italy, Switzerland and Canada also reached the final, with the Canadians finishing in eighth and last place, less than a quarter of a point ahead of Turkey.
The British claim they have no rivalry with the US, even though the two programs have vied for spots at virtually every major international event for most of the decade.
Britain has sent a very real, but unspoken message: it is more than capable of taking bronze, just like the bronze medal it won somewhat unexpectedly in London twelve years ago.
Jake Jarman’s total of 84.897 was just ahead of team-mate Joe Fraser, while Max Whitlock – in his fourth and final Games – shook off the nerves he knew were coming to score a 15.133 on the horse and give Great Britain plenty of momentum.
“A lot of people have asked me that question in terms of, ‘How does it feel to be above the U.S.?'” Whitlock said. “Honestly, you have to take it with a grain of salt. I think it’s really important to just think about our job.”
Russia’s absence creates a medal opportunity for the US, Britain and Ukraine behind another China-Japan duel for gold. Still, Whitlock played down the idea that Russia’s involvement would rule out a team medal for anyone outside the sport’s Big Three.
“If they were in, you’d think they’d be at the top,” Whitlock said. “So if they weren’t, there’s obviously a little bit of (a better chance of a medal), but only a little bit.”
The U.S. men, hoping to repeat the bronze they won at last fall’s world championships, were not exactly sharp in front of a crowd that included U.S. first lady Jill Biden, who clapped along to American star Frederick Richard’s floor exercise and then posed for photos with a somewhat subdued team.
While Richard called the experience “pretty cool,” he regretted not being able to show Biden a “cooler” routine after he posted a score of 13.833, slightly lower than what he knows he will need to medal in next week’s all-around final.
Richard wasn’t alone. The U.S. came to Paris hoping to win its first team medal at the Olympics since bronze in Beijing 16 years ago. While that’s certainly still on the table, Richard and Co. will have to do considerably better now that vaulting horse specialist Stephen Nedoroscik is the only American to reach an apparatus final.
Brody Malone, who returned from a serious leg injury in March 2023, won the U.S. Championships in early June and made his second Olympic team, fell once on the pommel horse and twice on the high bar.
His second misstep on the high bar, a high-risk, high-reward event that Malone won gold in at the 2022 world championships, forced the Americans to use Asher Hong’s 12,600, one of the reasons the U.S. ultimately finished 3,322 meters behind Great Britain.
“It definitely wasn’t perfect,” said US high-performance director Brett McClure. “And there were a few too many mistakes. I think we’ve got to clean up some things heading into the team final.”
