Individual, Men

The medal favorites for the men’s trampolining event were the two Chinese competitors Dong Dong and Gao Lei, both of whom finished on the podium in Rio 2016, and the former being the 2012 Olympic champion and winning a bronze medal in 2008. Dong, 32, had stated this was to be his final Olympics, having been one of the most successful competitors in the discipline since its introduction in 2000, in addition to his 12 World Championship titles. Uladzislau Hancharou of Belarus was also slated as a name to watch, as the defending Olympic champion from Rio 2016.

Hancharou and Ivan Litvinovich of Belarus finished first and second in the qualifiers, followed by Dylan Schmidt of New Zealand, Dominic Clarke of Australia, and Dong in fifth. The final additionally featured gymnasts from Japan, as well as two from ROC. A surprising crash onto the mat by Gao of China during his second routine of the qualifiers resulted in a disappointing score of 10.575 in addition to his 52.245, plummeting him down to 14th place and preventing him from advancing to the final.

Dong seemed well on his way to another gold medal finishing with a score of 61.235 in his final routine, until Ivan Litvinovich of Belarus, who finished first in the qualifiers, put up a score of 61.715 to surpass him and claim the gold. Dylan Schmidt of New Zealand finished with the bronze with a score of 60.675, enough to pass the defending champion Hancharou (60.565) of Belarus. This would be Belarus’ first medal of Tokyo 2020.