Olympic Games-Gymnastics-Japanese men’s top goal is to beat China for team gold

TOKYO (Reuters) – After narrowly missing out on the men’s gymnastics team title at Tokyo 2020, Japan is determined to beat their biggest rival China and take gold in Paris, setting that as their top priority with a month left until the Games start.

Three years ago, the Russians defeated Japan by 0.103 points – a piece of a number that has been etched in the minds of the three Japanese gymnasts and their head coach, who will return to the Olympics to erase those painful memories.

“We had the bitter experience of losing by the smallest possible margin, which was 0.103,” all-round title holder Daiki Hashimoto told Reuters after a team training session in Tokyo last week.

“I want us to win gold and enjoy the view from the podium.”

Revenge may not taste so sweet as Japan and China will battle it out without Russia, with the country banned from competing in team events due to the war in Ukraine.

These three superpowers have won every men’s gold medal since the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, with the exception of the Soviet Union-boycotted 1984 Games in Los Angeles, where the United States won the title.

“After losing to Russia by 0.103 in Tokyo, we worked hard heading into Paris, fueled by a sense of revenge, so there’s a part of me that’s a little sad that they won’t be there,” said head coach Hisashi Mizutori . a former team gold medalist.

“Still, it’s a big opportunity for us to get that medal, so we’ll do what we have to do.”

FROM RIO TO PARIS

A win for Japan would extend its record of eight team golds and the athletes said they were confident they could do so thanks to a well-balanced team and their superior collective “D-score”, or difficulty rating, over compared to China.

Based on simulations of the teams’ routines on the six apparatus, Japan’s D-score total was likely to surpass China’s, Mizutori said. This means that in the remaining weeks it is mainly important to perfect the routines and keep mistakes to a minimum.

“That was quite a surprise, as China had long had a higher D score than Japan,” said Kazuma Kaya, who won bronze on the pommel horse in Tokyo.

“In that sense, we have the strongest five members this time.”

Led by Hashimoto, Japan took the World Championship title in October with a total score of 255.594 points – almost two points ahead of China – although the runners-up were without their top all-rounder Zhang Boheng.

With the 24-year-old Zhang added to the Olympic roster this time around, China will be a formidable force, Mizutori said, leaving Japan little room for error.

Zhang plans to give Hashimoto a run for his money as the latter continues to deal with a finger injury that he said he suffered 60% of during last week’s training.

“I don’t think the pain will completely go away, but I want to get as close to 100 percent as possible” for Paris, he said, adding that he was aiming to defend his all-around and horizontal beam titles, for a total of three gold medals.

Mizutani said he saw the composition of the Paris squad as similar to the team that took the crown in Rio in 2016. That five-man team included four members who took gold in London in 2012 and a young recruit in Kenzo Shirai.

“We have experienced members and new members this time, so it’s quite comparable and the balance is really good,” Mizutani said.

“And just like the team in Rio had (seven-time Olympic medalist Kohei) Uchimura, we have Hashimoto, so I think we can expect a similar result.”

Hashimoto and Kaya are joined by Wataru Tanigawa, Takaaki Sugino and 20-year-old Shinnosuke Oka on the team.

Artistic gymnastics takes place from July 27 to August 5, with the men’s team final on July 29.