After losing their Olympic team title, Japan took revenge on Wednesday with the coronation of Daiki Hashimoto in the all-around gymnastics competition at the Tokyo Olympics, embodying the new generation that takes over from Kohei Uchimura, titled in London and Rio.
“Follow the path of Uchimura”
At 19, Daiki Hashimoto offers gold to Japan, at home. He climbed to first place in the all-around gymnastics competition with flying colors, this Wednesday after a fixed bar exercise in the last rotation under applause, which rarely fuse in this empty room of spectators, collecting 14,933 points for a total of 88,465 points. Coming second, the Chinese Xiao Ruoteng (88.065 pts) expressed his ” disappointment “ after the competition, to be beaten at the finish.
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Daiki Hashimoto, who had already shone in qualifying, explained that he “Wanted to follow the path of Uchimura” and “Lead the new generation”. While everything was played on the high bar, Daiki Hashimoto explained that he did not have “Feeling of pressure” and that he had “Just tried to have fun” without competing with others. Asked how he felt after winning the gold medal, he said no “Not being able to explain it”.
Kohei Uchimura was the all-around world champion six times in a row between 2009 and 2015. Reigning two-time all-around Olympic champion – a feat unheard of for over forty years – the Japanese has dominated gymnastics like no other for those eight years. .
Simone Biles in the stands
Bronze medalist Nikita Nagornyy, with 88.031 points, estimated that “It was good for Japan to have a champion when you are the host country”, explaining that the Japanese gymnasts were always at the top level. This world and European and world champion was among the favorites for gold, but he seems to have left feathers in the team competition won by the Russian team.
After the thunderclap of the day before and the cracking of Simone Biles in full competition by teams, the Ariake room has regained its tranquility. In the stands, the queen of gymnastics slipped discreetly and briefly to support the two Americans competing in the all-around.
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