Parallel Bars, Men

The eight starters in the parallel bars consisted of some of the best exponents on this apparatus in the world. There was the 2014 World Champion and 2015 silver medallist Oleh Verniaiev of Ukraine, the only man to qualify for as many as four individual finals in Rio, and he was the highest scoring qualifier for the parallel bars final. There was also the 2015 World Champion You Hao of China and his team-mate Deng Shudi, who was the bronze medallist in 2015. The silver and bronze medallists from the 2014 Worlds, Danell Leyva of the USA and Ryohei Kato of Japan, made up the strong line-up. The 2013 World Champion Lin Chaopan of China missed out on qualification despite finishing sixth, but he was not eligible for the final as he was the third best placed Chinese gymnast and only two per country were eligible for the final.

The American Leyva set the pace with an opening 15.900. The Chinese gymnasts were up third and fourth and both chose the two toughest routines. You Hao’s had a difficulty of 7.400, but a fall backwards on landing was costly and his 14.833 put him into last place, although Deng’s 15.766 off a difficulty of 7.200 put him into second place. He was soon relegated to third after Russia’s David Belyavsky’s routine scored him 15.783. The positions changed again when Verniaiev scored a massive 16.041, the best of the day, and that is how it remained as the last two, Cuba’s Manrique Larduet and Japan’s Kato, did nothing to change the medal order. Verniaiev won Ukraine’s first gold of the Games and added to the silver he won in the all-round individual competition. The silver medal for Leyva was a sweet one because he was originally a reserve on the US team, despite being the only American male to win a medal in 2012, but injury to John Orozco’s ankle in training led to Leyva being called into the team.