Paris Olympics PIX: Japan win thriller for men's gymnastics gold

IMAGE: Japan's Kazuma Kaya, Shinnosuke Oka, Takaaki Sugino and Wataru Tanigawa react after teammate Daiki Hashimoto performs on the Horizontal Bar during the artistic gymnastics men's team final against China at the Paris Olympics. Photograph: Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters

Daiki Hashimoto turned heartache into unimaginable joy as he overcame a fall from the pommel horse to power Japan to the gold medal, edging China in a pulsating gymnastics men's team final at the Paris Olympics on Monday.

While Hashimoto led Japan to their eighth men's team title at the Games, the United States were celebrating their first Olympic team medal since 2008 as they grabbed bronze.

Just when it looked like China had the title in the bag as they led Japan by more than three points with only three more performance left on their final apparatus, the high bar, Su Weide fell twice during his routine, turning the title race into a nail-biter.

When the chalk settled, Japan emerged victorious with a total of 259.594 points, less than a point ahead of China.

IMAGE: Daiki Hashimoto in action on the horizontal bar. Photograph: Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters

The US men put on a superb performance and locked up the bronze after nailing most of their landings in the competition.

THE OLYMPICS, 2024

Source: REUTERS
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