David Belyavskiy qualified to two individual finals at his third Olympic Games – pommel horse and parallel bars. In the pommel horse final, he had a good routine but lost out on bronze by less than 0.1 – Kaya Kazuma who had higher difficulty than Belyavskiy finished third. Max Whitlock defended his title and Lee Chih Kai won silver. Belyavskiy said that despite not winning a medal, he is happy with his performance:
“I managed to do everything [I was supposed to] today. Not everyone in the final was able to do that. I did everything I could and did it well. Turns out, it’s the fourth place. Considering that I got into the final from 8th place… I’m upset, of course, but I climbed four spots up. That’s already good.”
Valentina Rodionenko traditionally questioned the judging on the event:
“I’m upset for David, he lost to the Japanese [gymnast] who competed at home by only a little bit. Of course, he was pushed up [in scoring] a bit. But tomorrow everything should be fine for the guys. Nikita has a great vault and Denis Abliazin – rings.”
Photo: Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation
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