PARIS, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Japan surged past China on the final apparatus of horizontal bar to win the men's gymnastics team final at Paris 2024 on Monday, for their eighth Olympic title in the event.
Japan trailed by 3.267 points going into the horizontal bar prior to China's Su Weide's two falls in his routine, allowing Japan back into the lead. Zhang Boheng's 14.733 fell short of the 15.265 that was needed for China to catch up in the title contest.
Japan's Daiki Hashimoto and his teammates combined for a total of 259.594, 0.532 ahead of China, who had to settle for silver.
"I felt the rest of the team was all behind me," Hashimoto said of the moment he went to the high bar. "They pushed me on to the stage. I was almost crying before the routine."
Japan last won the team gold in Rio 2016, followed by a silver in Tokyo. China took back-to-back bronze medals at the last two Olympics, after having taken gold in 2000, 2008 and 2012.
The U.S. took the bronze with 257.793 after bouncing back from a sloppy performance in the qualifications that placed them fifth. The last time they won an Olympic medal was also a bronze in 2008.
China's men couldn't hold back tears when the scores flashed on the screen. They walked back to the athletes' section in single file, eyes red, with Zhang trying to cheer them up and waving to the crowd.
"We wanted to reach the podium and we had a pretty good start," said Xiao Ruoteng, the Tokyo all-around silver medalist. "We came a long way but didn't have our best performance on the last apparatus."
The veteran Olympian said he could not see himself at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, but instead said he would get ready for the upcoming all-around final.
Japan, consisting of Hashimoto, Shinnosuke Oka, Takaaki Sugino, Kazuma Kaya and Wataru Tanigawa, took the lead early with brilliant floor routines before China took over the lead, capitalizing on a miscue by Hashimoto, who came off the pommel horse in his routine.
China's Liu Yang put on an excellent rings display, together with Zou Jingyuan's performance of 16.000 on parallel bars, which helped China build up their advantage going into the crucial high bar routine.
