The past three years in men’s gymnastics have been defined by two supreme athletes. In Tokyo, Japan’s Daiki Hashimoto took the baton from the retiring legend Kohei Uchimura, becoming the first teenager to win the men’s all‑around title. He was joined shortly after at the summit by Zhang Boheng of China, the 2021 world all‑around champion who is responsible for the highest scores of the quadrennial. As they pushed each other to their limits and improved, this Olympic cycle seemed to be building up to a dramatic finale between them in Paris.
Minutes into the marathon men’s all-around final, however, the predicted narrative had crumbled to dust. In just the second tumbling pass of his opening floor routine, Zhang shockingly crashed into the floor after he failed to rebound out of his three‑and‑a‑half twisting layout somersault, landing on his head. A few minutes later, in the second rotation, Hashimoto slipped off the pommel horse while attempting to move into a handstand. Suddenly there was an opportunity for somebody else.
