GB gymnast Jake Jarman on the art of the team competition

To say that Great Britain's men's artistic gymnastics squad secured their second-ever World Championships medal in the team event in dramatic fashion is quite the understatement.

Heading into the final three rotations in front of home fans in Liverpool in November 2022, having qualified in second place, Joe Fraser, Giarnni Regini-Moran, James Hall, Courtney Tulloch and Jake Jarman had it all to do.

GB were currently in last place after errors on pommel horse, and a second-ever men's world team medal, and a quota place at Paris 2024 looked out of reach.

With one apparatus to go, however, the resurgent Brits had climbed to fourth but were still a hefty 1.200 points off Italy in third.

The result came down to one last routine – Jake Jarman on high bar.

Could he hold his nerve to secure the precious medal and the Olympic quota berth for the team?

Well, yes, and he knew he could, because he'd done it before – twice – just months earlier.

We'll get to that, but with an acute focus on the team event at the World Championships taking place in Antwerp, Belgium from 30 September to 8 October, courtesy of last-chance team quota berths for Paris 2024, Olympics.com takes a look at the art of the team performance.

• World Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2023 preview: Full schedule and how to watch live Paris 2024 qualifying action

Jake Jarman's fantastic finales

Not only is the title of 'world's best' at stake at the 2023 World Gymnastics Championships, but the competition also serves as the final chance for both men's and women's teams to qualify for Paris 2024.

Courtesy of podium finishes at the 2022 edition, People's Republic of China, Japan and Great Britain have already qualified five-person quota berths for next year's Games, in which National Olympic Committees select gymnasts for Paris closer to Games-time.

The United States, Great Britain and Canada secured the women's berths. The top nine teams in both competitions in Antwerp, discounting the already qualified nations, will obtain quota spots.

Great Britain is the only nation thus far to have secured berths for both men's and women's teams, and Jarman played his part in the men's dramatic bronze with his hit high-bar routine in Liverpool.

Two international meets prior to the World Championships, in which he went up last on high bar in the team event, cemented his position as one to count on when it matters most.

First, at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, Jarman, with a bit less pressure with Team England clearly in front, still performed a clean routine to put the cherry on top of a comfortable win ahead of Canada and Cyprus.

Next up, the European Championships where GB became the first men's team champions since 2012. A nerve-inducing routine, again on high bar, again last to go up, and again needing a clean routine, Jarman landed dead from his dismount to roars from his teammates who had been watching on, arms linked and with bated breath.

So that's the final moment, the money shot, what happens when all goes well, but what does it take to compete well as a team in a sport that, when on the apparatus, is as individual as it gets?

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• As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.

Strategy counts in artistic gymnastics team events

The name of the game in a team competition is consistency. Removing any potential for big errors, such as the biggest points deductor, falling from the apparatus, is key. Gymnasts will often water down a routine to one that is less dicey, but still enough to score the marks.

Balancing this with performing the difficult moves required to score the big marks, especially in a tight competition where every tenth counts, is quite the conundrum, and one in which the coaches play their part when deciding the level of difficulty to perform in the team event.

For this Olympic gymnastics cycle, three gymnasts compete on each apparatus with all scores counting toward the overall total on six apparatus for men and four for women.

National coaches pick the gymnast who will score the highest marks on that apparatus out of the five team members available, so gymnasts don't necessarily compete on all apparatus in the team competition.

This can mean a gymnast has a lengthy wait between apparatus, something practiced in control competitions. The British teams, for example, train a full competition, including judges, and with timings replicating the meet at their Lilleshall National Sports Centre base.

• Max Whitlock: “It would eat me up inside if I stopped because I was scared of failing in Paris.”

Rhythm and momentum key for artistic gymnastics team event

The next is the same for both team and all-around competitions – adapting the rhythm for each apparatus.

The Olympic order of the six apparatus for men is floor, pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars and high bar, rotating in that order no matter the apparatus on which they start.

Each apparatus has its own dynamic.

Vault is an explosive, five-second adrenaline-fest requiring sprint speed, springiness, aerial awareness and abrupt endings. The next apparatus – the parallel bars – needs calmness, focus, elegant swinging moves, and more of a pfft on landing than a slam.

After claiming silver in the all-around competition at the European Championships in April, Jarman told Olympics.com: "I kind of had to slow myself down a lot after floor because pommels is one of those pieces where you have to really be a bit more methodical and really relaxed otherwise you can come off really easily.

"But I managed to get through everything clean and that's all I could have ever asked for."

Money shot

Chosen to be the last gymnast up on the last apparatus with so much riding on the result with teammates watching on requires a certain kind of character. Yes, you get the glory of the money shot if all goes right, but another kind of disappointment altogether if you err.

"The World Champs, that team final – that was a lot of pressure for that high bar routine," Jarman told us. "I did the Commonwealths, Europeans and Worlds and I was last up on high bar every time and it is an amazing feeling, landing and finishing that competition for the team.

"I feel like that pressure really helps me in situations like this where I just had to get through my routine clean and land it to be able to medal – it's a lot of pressure but because I practice that, I feel like it helped me today."

Personality types

Respecting the different personality types of your teammates so they can compete at their optimum is also key.

Some wear headphones to block out the noise to focus on themselves; others prefer to be vocal and back-slappy.

Despite the team tag, when a gymnast performs, it couldn't be a more individual sport, so a gymnast has to do what works for them. Hours of training together helps each understand their teammates' requirements, on individual journeys strewn with success and failures bonding the team.

Unique experiences and indescribable pressures during training, along with travelling and competition, serve to create an intimate support bubble, too.

"Most people counted us out after the pommels (at the 2022 World Championships)," said Jarman. "That rotation (pommel horse) that was heart-breaking for us – I honestly don't know how we picked it back up again."

His teammate Fraser did: "We were counted out! Never stopped fighting, never stopped believing and always gave our all! What a journey, thank you Team I love you all."