Gold medalist Yang Liu of China celebrates on the podium with silver medalist and compatriot Jingyuan Zou, left, of China and bronze medalist Eleftherios Petrounias of Greece, right.Mike Blake/Reuters
Liu Yang flexed his muscles to successfully defend his Olympic title in the rings final on Sunday, earning China their long-awaited first gold medal in gymnastics at the Paris Games.
The 29-year-old scored 15.300 points, edging out compatriot Zou Jingyuan’s 15.233.
Silver medalist Zou had been the top qualifier for the final, with Team Japan head coach Hisashi Mizutori calling the Chinese gymnast’s rings routine “beautiful, powerful and inimitable”. But on Sunday, he fell short of the gold by a razor thin margin of 0.067 of a point.
Greece’s Eleftherios Petrounias took the bronze with 15.100.
Finishing 1-2 in the strongman’s event was something of a redemption for China’s gymnasts, who had narrowly missed out on gold in both the team and all-around finals.
In last Monday’s team final, China looked to have the title wrapped up until two of their gymnasts bungled their routines in spectacular fashion on the final apparatus, handing Japan an improbable 11th-hour win.
Team China settled for a bitter silver, while two days later, Zhang Boheng also had to take silver behind Japan’s Shinnosuke Oka in the men’s all around final.
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