It was billed as a battle between China’s Zhang Boheng and Japan’s Daiki Hashimoto. In the end, though, it was Hashimoto’s compatriot Shinnosuke Oka who stood on top of the podium after the men’s all-around gymnastics final on Wednesday. The 20-year-old Okayama city native finished with an impressive score of 86.832 to edge out Zhang by 0.233 points. It was Oka’s second gold of the Games after he helped Japan claim a dramatic team victory on Monday. Oka’s gold medal extended Japan’s win streak in the all-around event to four following Kohei Uchimura’s triumphs in London and Rio and Hashimoto’s victory in Tokyo.
Shinnosuke Oka Holds His Nerve To Take Gold
“I think I performed quite well overall across the six events, despite some mistakes. But after all, it’s about how the judges see and rate it,” said Oka after the final. The Japanese gymnast was consistent throughout and capitalized on errors by the leading two contenders: Zhang stumbled during his floor routine and Hashimoto came off the pommel horse, as he did in the team event. Oka led after three rotations before dropping to fourth behind Ukrainian pair Oleg Verniaiev and Illia Kovtun and China’s Xiao Ruoteng. He then regained the lead following the fifth.
Going into the sixth and final apparatus — the horizontal bar — six gymnasts were separated by just 1.1 points or fewer. It was an intense finale, but Oka held his nerve, scoring a solid 14.500. He now just had to wait to see if Zhang could overtake him in what was the Chinese gymnast’s signature event. He scored an incredible 15.133 in qualifying. Had he repeated that, the gold would have been his. A score of 14.633, however, was not enough and Oka was the new Olympic champion. Zhang and Xiao had to be content with silver and bronze respectively.
Defending champion Hashimoto finished a disappointing sixth. He has been struggling with a finger injury since May. “I didn’t give much thought to winning back-to-back titles today. Having got back to where I am after the injury, I was feeling satisfied from winning the team gold. I am more happy than frustrated and tears have come out,” he told reporters. Following Oka’s success, Hashimoto ran over to celebrate with his teammate. “He kept telling me to be confident and try your best. So that helped, it gave me a lot of power,” said Oka.
Sanshiro Murao Has To Settle for Silver
Japan’s other medal on Wednesday came from Sanshiro Murao in judo. He had to settle for silver in the men’s -90kg competition after losing to Georgia’s Lasha Bekauri in the final. Bekauri also won in Tokyo.
