Rings, Men

Greece’s rings gold medalist in Rio, Eleftherios Petrounias, proved his win was no fluke by winning the rings at both the 2017 and 2018 World Championships, and he was the highest scorer in qualifying in Tokyo. The reigning world champion Ibrahim Çolak from Turkey qualified for the final after finishing fourth, while Rio silver medalist Arthur Zanetti of Brazil also qualified. France’s Samir Aït Saïd was hoping to get a medal after making a comeback from the horrific leg injury he suffered at Rio 2016.

Zanetti was the first to go, but his 14.133 was never going to be enough to give him another silver and he eventually finished last of the eight gymnasts. The Chinese pair of Liu Yang and You Hao were next up and Hao took the lead with 15.300 before Liu topped that with 15.400. World champion Colak could only finish fifth with 14.866, while the reigning champion Petrounias, who was the penultimate gymnast to take to the rings, picked up a bronze with the only other score over 15 points (15.200). France’s Aït Saïd finished fourth, 0.300 points behind Petrounias.

Liu Yang gave a relaxed performance rounded off with a tucked, double-double dismount as it helped secure the first 1-2 in gymnastics competition at the Olympics for Chinese gymnasts since Chen Yibing and Yang Wei, also on the rings, at Beijing 2008. Liu Yang’s gold was China’s first of the Tokyo Games.