Floor Exercise, Men

Kenzo Shirai of Japan, the 2013 and 2015 World Champion and silver medallist in 2014, was favourite for gold medal despite his team-mate and recently crowned all-round champion Kohei Uchimura being also amongst the finalists. The floor was the only individual event Uchimura qualified for and, as the silver medallist in the floor exercise in London 2012, he was also considered one of the favourites. The Briton Max Whitlock, however, gave an outstanding performance in the all-round event and, as the silver medallist at the 2015 World Championship, he was in with as good a chance as any of the eight men contesting the floor final. Also in contention were the US pair of Sam Mikulak and Jake Dalton, who qualified as the two highest scorers.

First to go was Uchimura but he scored only 15.241 after a couple of errors. He was soon overtaken by Brazil’s Diego Hypólito and he in turn was overtaken by the next man up, Whitlock, who registered 15.633. His fellow Briton Kristian Thomas failed to get amongst the medals but another Brazilian, Arthur Mariano moved into third place with 15.433. The first of the two Americans, Dalton, fell well below his qualifying score and with two gymnasts to go Whitlock was guaranteed at least a bronze medal. Kenzo Shirai was hoping to become the first Japanese gymnast since Sawao Kato in 1968 to win the floor exercise but two bad errors on a routine with the highest difficulty of 7.600 saw him score 15.366 and finish fourth. The only man standing between Whitlock and Britain’s first ever gymnastics gold medal was Sam Mikulak, but his routine resulted in him finishing last with 14.333 and Britain got that elusive gold. For Brazil, their silver and bronze medals added to their country’s solitary medal – a gold won in London 2012 by Arthur Zanetti. For Hypólito, collecting a medal was special as he fell in both the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.