Japan’s Shinnosuke Oka wins gold in all-around gymnastics competition

Paris. Japan’s Shinnosuke Oka surprised everyone on Wednesday by winning gold in the all-around gymnastics competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, dethroning his compatriot Daiki Hashimoto, the reigning world champion and winner of Tokyo 2020, who finished sixth after a final that fell short of expectations.

In a thrilling final-minute finish at Paris’s Bercy Arena, 20-year-old Oka took the top spot on the podium, which was completed by Chinese gymnasts Boheng Zhang, silver, and Ruoteng Xiao, bronze.

Very solid throughout the final, the young Oka, who is competing in his first Olympic Games, surprised with a great performance on all the apparatus, as well as an outstanding execution on the parallel bars.

His surprising gold, however, was not certified until the last second of a tight decision that the Chinese Zhang, world champion in 2021 and leader in the standings, fought until the end.

As the last gymnast to compete, his place on the podium depended on the score the judges gave to his exercise on the high bar, which ultimately was not enough to beat Oka.

The big disappointment of the afternoon was for the Japanese Daiki Hashimoto, one of the big favourites.

The reigning Olympic and world champion, Hashimoto arrived in Paris with the opportunity to equal one of the greatest Olympic feats of his compatriot Kohei Uchimura, considered one of the best male gymnasts in history, and who in Rio 2016 had managed to retain the Olympic gold he brought back from London 2012.

In addition to Uchimura, two other male gymnasts had previously achieved this feat.

But neither in the qualifications, where he surprisingly missed out on the high bar final – in which he was also an Olympic champion in Tokyo – nor later in the team final, had the 22-year-old Japanese shown his best form.

Despite this, he managed to react in time and ended up leading his team’s comeback to regain the gold they lost three years ago thanks to a solid exercise on the high bar when all the pressure was on him.

On Wednesday, however, that was not possible. The two-time world champion started well on the floor exercise, but again had problems during his pommel horse exercise, and did not shine in any of the others.