Parallel Bars, Men

As the reigning World Champion, Danell Leyva of the United States was a favorite to win the gold medal in the men’s parallel bars event at the 2012 Summer Olympics. His podium spot was far from assured, however, and his greatest challengers would be China’s Feng Zhe, 2010 World and Asian Games Champion and 2009 world runner-up, and Marcel Nguyen of Germany, winner of the two most recent European Championships. Alongside a host of other strong competitors, it was believed that the podium would be dominated by these three men but, in a surprising twist, Leyva failed to make the final, placing 12th overall and ending up in reserve position. The qualification round was won by the Tanaka brothers of Japan, Yusuke and Kazuhito, while Feng placed third and Nguyen sixth.

The final was unique in that there were nine gymnasts competing: Zhang Chenglong of China, the 2010 high bar World Champion, and Hamilton Sabot of France, 2010 European bronze medalist in the parallel bars, had tied on difficulty and execution points (and thus, on total score) and were both permitted to advance. By the midway point in the finals, the tournament had already been decided: Feng’s high difficulty, combined with the second best execution score of the round, put him comfortably ahead of the rest of the competition and earned him the gold medal. Ngyuen had a lower difficulty but a higher execution score, placing him below Feng but well above third place to win the silver. Sabot, meanwhile, made the most of his lucky qualification and finished third, 0.066 points ahead of Kazuhito Tanaka, making him the first (and only) French gymnastics medalist of the Games.