Gymnastics: Liu Yang retains Olympic title on still rings
The People's Republic of China won its first artistic gymnastics gold medal at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 Sunday (4 August), as Liu Yang led a one-two finish for his nation in the still rings final.
His 15.300 narrowly held off teammate Zou Jingyuan, who posted a 15.233. Greece's Eleftherios Petrounias captured the bronze with a 15.100.
It's a second-straight win for Liu, who took gold at Tokyo 2020. No man has defended his still rings Olympic title since Japan's Nakayama Akinori was golden in 1968 and 1972. Petrounious was the champion at Rio 2016.
Liu was second in the final, following the masterful work of Zou. In the end the difference between the two, who had matchin 6.4 difficulty scores, came on their respective dismounts. Zou had taken severall, very small movements to bring his double-double dismount under control.
That was all Liu needed, as he took a small hop forward on his landing.
France's hero Samir Ait Said who suffered a horrific injury on the vault at Rio 2016 finished fourth at 15.000.
More to come.