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After the men’s first day of gymnastics' NHK Trophy 2024, Oka Shinnosuke sat in first place. But the story belonged to 34-year-old Tanaka Yusuke.
The Rio 2016 team gold medallist was third on Friday (17 May), and within striking distance of a potential third Olympic appearance, at the final qualifier for Japanese athletes, trailing only Oka and Kaya Kazuma.
Tanaka, who missed the cut for the Tokyo 2020 Games, held in 2021, totalled a score of 255.128, with 169.764 of it carrying over from last month’s All-Japan All-Around Championships.
Lower back pains and all, Oka was in the clear with a 258.196 (172.264) and looks to be well positioned to secure a quota spot for Paris 2024*.
Tokyo 2020 Olympian Kaya scored 256.495 (171.596). With three-time defending champion Hashimoto Daiki having pulled out with a finger injury, the top two at the NHK Trophy will earn berths for the Games. The remaining two will be decided by a panel based on their separate event scores.
Tanaka didn’t get ahead of himself, but liked his chances of becoming the second oldest Japanese gymnast at an Olympics.
“Apparently, I’m hitting my peak right now,” Tanaka said half-jokingly. “Not a bad first day. I thought I was solid in all six and feel like I put it all together pretty well.
“I’m dead serious about being here and I really want to go [to the Games]. My situation is a bit different to what it was in Rio. I want to make the most of my past experiences.”
If Oka can hang on, he will head to his first Olympic Games. The 20-year-old did admit he was nervous ahead of Sunday, the last day of the competition.
“I’ve never been in this position before so while I’m excited, I have to try to stay calm until I stick the very last landing,” he said. “I don’t feel like I’m anywhere near [the Olympics] but if I start to think about it, I’ll tie myself into a knot.
“I just have to think about delivering a clean performance.”
*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.
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