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Shinnosuke Oka stuns field to win Olympic men’s Gymnastics all-around gold

Japan’s Shinnosuke Oka clinched a surprise victory in the Olympic men’s gymnastics all-around final on Wednesday after a crucial pep talk from his compatriot and former champion, Daiki Hashimoto.

Oka, 20, secured gold with a score of 86.832, edging out China’s Zhang Boheng and Xiao Ruoteng, who took silver and bronze respectively. Hashimoto, the defending champion, finished sixth in a dramatic contest at Bercy Arena.

Entering the last rotation, the horizontal bar, the top three were separated by less than a point. Zhang’s stellar performance had the crowd on edge, but Oka’s final score held up by a narrow margin of 0.233 points.

Hashimoto, who whispered words of encouragement to Oka before the final rotation, said, “He kept telling me to be confident and try your best. So that helped, it gave me a lot of power,” Oka revealed post-match. “I wanted to win, and if I beat Mr. Hashimoto I thought I would win the gold – I did not make any mistakes so I feel great.”

This victory marked Japan’s fourth consecutive men’s all-around title, following wins by Hashimoto and Kohei Uchimura in 2012 and 2016. Oka’s triumph comes just two days after he helped Japan secure the team title, bringing his gold medal tally to two in 48 hours.

Zhang, who led in qualifying, reflected on his performance, saying, “Anything can happen in a competition… In the end I didn’t win the gold but looking back I believe I progressed personally.”

The thrilling final rotation saw Oka maintain his lead over Xiao and Zhang, solidifying his place as the new Olympic champion.

(Source: AFP)

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