RIO DE JANEIRO - Not even the curse of the pommel horse could halt Japan's march to the men's team gymnastics title at the Rio Olympics on Monday as China's eight-year reign as champions came to an end after a day of slips, trips and botched landings.
Four years after Kohei Uchimura's botched dismount from the pommel horse almost denied Japan a team medal in London, it looked as if the same apparatus would be their undoing again when Koji Yamamuro lost his grip and rolled off.
But unlike in 2012, when they ended up with silver behind China, Yamamuro's score of 13.900 was their only blip in Rio as they put in a command performance on the remaining five apparatus to capture gold with a total of 274.094.
In a sport where tenths of a point can mean the difference between a gold medal and no medal at all, their total was 2.641 points more than surprise silver medallists Russia.
The Chinese team of Lin Chaopan, Deng Shudi, Zhang Chenglong, Liu Yang and You Hao sat back dejectedly in their chairs after Russia pipped them by 0.331 points to silver, with Zhang breaking down in tears afterwards backstage.
For all Uchimura's past success, the men's Olympic team gold was the one major medal missing from his vast collection, which includes the 2012 all around title, a record six successive world all around golds and the 2015 world team crown.
On Monday, he stood side-by-side with teary-eyed 2012 London Games survivors Yamamuro, Ryohei Kato and Yusuke Tanaka and new kid on the block Kenzo Shirai in triumph, their index fingers raised to confirm their standing in men's gymnastics.
"This was the event I really wanted to win gold in," Uchimura said after Japan returned to the top of the Olympic podium for the first time since 2004.
"You really have to work on yourself to become number one."
Source : http://news.abs-cbn.com/
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