Rio de Janeiro One step.
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Whitlock, a two-time world all-around medallist, gave Britain a first Olympic men’s all-around medal since Walter Tysal’s silver in 1908.
Trailing by almost a point entering the final rotation and his chances of a second Olympic all-around title very much in jeopardy, Kohei Uchimura pondered what for the last seven years has been unthinkable.
But the 22-year-old Verniaiev overtook him midway through the competition, and from there the two battled for the lead like high-octane stock-cars at the Daytona 500.
Uchimura, who also won the team gold two days ago, had to wait until his final performance on the horizontal bar to snatch the top prize with a total of 92.365.
“I can’t really explain why I have maintained this supremacy”, said Uchimura, unbeaten since taking the first of his record six world all-around titles in 2009.
“My coach and I have been working so hard over the past four years and it’s great to have got a medal”, said Whitlock.
In a gruelling sport that seems to leave champions on the scrapheap faster than it takes Phelps use his giant wingspan to swim a 200m butterfly race, Uchimura’s gymnastics lifespan defies logic. Both fell off the pommel horse that day but could get within striking distance of the podium if they have flawless days.
But if you’re going to claim the heavyweight title you have to knock out the champ and when Uchimura was unusually vulnerable, Verniaiev couldn’t deliver the decisive blow. “I didn’t destroy it like everyone would have wanted to me to”.
But high bar is arguably Uchimura’s best event and he has slated to go second-to-last in the rotation, one spot before Verniaiev.
Uchimura started well in the first rotation, finishing his floor exercise with a high score. The final event was the high bar, which is Uchimura’s specialty.
“I definitely did. It’s kind a amusing. I think that today together we managed to put together an incredible show”. “I honestly believe that was the turning point for me”.
Mikulak, 23, began on the pommel horse.
Verniaiev, meanwhile was streaking toward an upset.
“I’m quite happy I managed to make Kohei very nervous”, Verniaiev said with a laugh.
And had the rotation been different he might have.
Needing 14.9 to win, Verniaiev instead earned a 14.8.
Uchimura did just that – perfectly sticking his landing to cap off a stellar 15.8 score.
“I was prepared for any circumstance, whether we were ahead of behind”, Ledecky said. “Horizontal bar is one of my favorites”. I feel I’ve completed that target now. “But I tried not to look at his performance and I concentrated on my own”, he told reporters. I remained calm and controlled.
“There was only a tiny gap”, he said.
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“I firmly believe that if we hadn’t won team gold in Glasgow we wouldn’t have won this gold today”, said Uchimura. The only other Ukrainian gymnast to medal was Oleksandr Beresh in 2000. For several agonizing minutes, Verniaiev tried to convince himself he had done enough to win.
