Competing in the same group as Uchimura, the Ukrainian challenger to Uchimura’s title led Saturday’s qualifiers and pulled ahead on the rings with a 0.467 advantage on the Japanese at the half-way point.
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Wilson, who will return to bid for a medal on that same piece of apparatus, said: ‘I’m so happy for Max to get the bronze because he is a massive inspiration for me – I’ve looked up to him for years.
It was. It just wasn’t impossible. Not for the greatest men’s gymnast of all time.
When Uchimura, who fell from the bar during qualifying, earned 15.800 with his high-flying routine that drew a chorus of “oohs” and “ahhs” each time he performed one of his four release and catch manoeuvres, it left Verniaiev needing to overhaul a target of 14.899. And when Verniaiev’s routine minutes later ended with a small hop and an ever-so slight lean to the left on his dismount, Uchimura was back where he’s always been while Verniaiev shrugged his shoulders.
What are you gonna do?
Uchimura won with a total of 92.365. Competing with a guy who has not given up his title since 2009 is awesome. “Today we managed to put on an awesome show”.
“This really was the trickiest for me”, Uchimura said after becoming the first man in almost 50 years to repeat as Olympic champion. By this point, though, it was clear Uchimura, defending his title from London 2012, and Verniaiev would battle for top honours. Verniaiev’s precise parallel bars routine – his body pencil straight as he pressed into a handstand, his legs seemingly duct taped together – put him up by.901 points heading into high bar.
The 23-year-old took bronze behind Japanese superstar Kohei Uchimura, who retained his title from London 2012 after edging past Ukraine’s Oleg Verniaiev. And he seemed kind of pumped up about it.
“I’m quite happy I managed to make Kohei very nervous”, Verniaiev said with a laugh. He secured the bronze, becoming the first British athlete to win a medal in the men’s gymnastics individual all-around final.
It was a feeling shared by Americans Sam Mikulak and Chris Brooks, who finished seventh and 14th, respectively.
After the first five days of competition, US is still leading the Olympic medal count ranking.
While Uchimura was exulting in triumph, Verniaiev was basically just warming up.
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. “I really have no confidence I should say, that I can beat Oleg”.
Verniaiev equated Uchimura to the gymnastics version of Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt, territory the ever gracious Uchimura shied away from immediately.
“Everybody in the world knows these names”, he said.
Uchimura, the son of two gymnasts and who took up the sport at the age of three, sounded tired from all the preparation put into reaching the Olympics every four years – not to mention the wear and tear on his body.
“I never knew where I was placing at all”. He believed he had sealed it with his solid high bar routine but 19-time World Championships medallist Uchimura was smiled on by the judges and overtook him at the death.
Uchimura will be 31 when Tokyo hosts the 2020 Olympics, and he would be gunning for a record third consecutive all around gold.
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Here’s the answer: pretty much whatever he wants. He got that triumphant moment on Monday night, when he guided the Japanese to the top of the podium for the first time since 2004 with a almost flawless finishing kick on floor exercise. Ukraine qualified for the team final but basically gave up when Maksym Semiankiv couldn’t participate in the finals due to injury.
