The runner-up, Ukraine’s Oleg Vernyayev said Uchimura was Michael Phelps in gymnastics, but the low-key Japanese believed that he was over flattered.
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Whitlock is set to face Japanese legend Uchimura again tonight after Japan won the gold medal in the team event on Sunday night. The disparity has created a growing concern among those responsible for the program’s performance.
“The greatest all-around men’s final history”, NBC commentator Jonathan Horton said afterwards.”We just witnessed it”. But I want to take part.
Uchimura had been behind his 22-year-old rival going onto the final apparatus but sealed gold with an acrobatic display involving spectacular swings and turns.
The U.S. men failed to medal in Rio de Janeiro, as Sam Mikulak finished in seventh at 89.631.
At the top of the leader board there was high drama.
Verniaiev led the way on the rings and parallel bars, finishing second on the pommel horse behind Whitlock, the reigning world champion on the apparatus.
No athlete encapsulates the excellence of the all-around discipline than Uchimura, who has been untouchable since taking silver in Beijing in 2008, yet against whom Whitlock was desperate to mount a challenge. “The fact that we can compete with him is awesome”. I didn’t know any of the scores of any of the other gymnasts at any point. Briton Max Whitlock took third with 90.641, while Japan’s Ryohei Kato ended in 11th place at 88.590.
“To think he’s out here and who he’s competing with, you just can’t put it into words what it means”.
“I wanted to prove myself as an all-rounder and I’ve fulfilled that, and I feel complete in that target”.
The U.S. women’s 4 x 200-meter team, anchored by Katie Ledecky, landed another gold medal on Wednesday night, while Nathan Adrian added a bronze in the 100-meter freestyle and Josh Prenot won silver in the men’s 200-meter breaststroke.
“We are one team and we never blew a single championship”, he said. Still, the female gymnasts are creating a shadow like the Lakers did in their glory days.
That cost him the chance of competing for gold in that discipline in the individual competition, but with Japan winning Monday’s team competition in such superb style he will be clearly in confident mood. “I don’t think it’s a very hard thing to see”.
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The end result was another blowout victory, but the Americans couldn’t put it on cruise control like they had in their first two wins. It’s ridiculous. They are on another level. Unfortunately, Danell Leyva made an error on the high bar on the country’s final attempt, and it may have cost them. Behind the scenes, apparently, it isn’t any different. “I’ll beat him next time”. “I wouldn’t change anything, no regrets because I stuck every single routine that I did that day”.
