Over the last three years, men’s gymnastics has been dominated by two remarkable athletes. At the Tokyo Olympics, Japan’s Daiki Hashimoto emerged as a force, succeeding the legendary Kohei Uchimura and becoming the first teenager to secure the men’s all-around title. Shortly after, he was matched at the peak by Zhang Boheng of China, the reigning world all-around champion from 2021, who has recorded the highest scores throughout the quadrennial. Their intense rivalry has driven them to greater heights, setting the stage for a thrilling showdown in Paris.
However, mere minutes into the marathon men’s all-around final, the anticipated storyline fell apart. In his second tumbling pass during the opening floor routine, Zhang surprisingly crashed to the mat, failing to recover from his three-and-a-half twisting layout somersault, landing awkwardly on his head. Shortly thereafter, during the second rotation, Hashimoto lost his grip on the pommel horse while attempting a handstand. This sudden turn of events opened the door for new contenders.
At only 20 years old, Shinnosuke Oka of Japan was making his debut at a major global championship during this competition. Amidst the tension, falls, and missed opportunities that characterized the men’s events, Oka’s performance remained a shining constant. His precision and calm under pressure were instrumental in Japan’s team final victory, setting him apart as he held steady to claim the title of Olympic men’s all-around champion.
Oka concluded his first major all-around competition with a score of 86.832, narrowly edging out a formidable late charge from Zhang, the silver medalist, by a margin of just 0.233 points. China’s Xiao Ruoteng secured the bronze medal. Team GB athletes converted their strong qualifications into impressive results, with Joe Fraser finishing fifth and Jake Jarman in seventh. For Hashimoto, who placed sixth, this served as a stark reminder of the challenges of maintaining top performance.
Starting the all-around final as the clear favorite, Zhang found himself in 20th place after the first rotation. He exhibited remarkable resilience by quickly bouncing back and delivering strong routines on the pommel horse and rings. With immense potential across all six events, he still had a solid chance of clinching gold if he performed at his best.
As Oka moved to the top of the leaderboard, he maintained focus and precision through each apparatus, but the final two rotations saw margins sharply tighten. In the qualifying rounds, Zhang had outperformed Oka by 0.633 in their last two events, while the difference between Oka in joint third and Zhang in sixth was only 0.566.
Under significant pressure from Zhang, Oka rose to the occasion. They both executed impressive routines on the parallel bars, followed by Oka delivering his best horizontal bar routine of the competition. The result hinged on Zhang performing on his signature apparatus in the final routine of the night. His qualifying score of 15.133 on the horizontal bar would have secured gold. However, midway through his routine, Zhang struggled to maintain his momentum but managed to finish and stick the landing. Yet, in such close contests, every decimal matters. His score of 14.633, his lowest of the event, left him behind Oka.
Throughout three days of competition, Oka displayed near-flawless execution in his routines. He is a clean, agile, and precise gymnast who performed under immense self-belief. His consistency is highlighted by the narrow 0.033 points difference between his qualifying score of 86.865 and his finals performance. Having now secured the pinnacle achievement in his sport, Oka is still at the beginning of his career, with plenty of room to grow.
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Despite Zhang’s impressive recovery to almost claim gold following his fall, the collapse of the Chinese team in the final served as another disappointment. The preceding days made it evident that Zhang is the premier gymnast globally, but at the critical moment, he stumbled.
“I’m not sure what it means to me,” he admitted. “It’s second place at the Olympics, and I’m not very pleased with the outcome, but there’s nothing more I can do.”
