ZOU Jingyuan wins men's gold in parallel bars

People's Republic of China's ZOU Jingyuan has re-established his dominance on the parallel bars, winning Olympic gold Tuesday (3 August) on the final day of artistic gymnastics competition at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Lukas Dauser of Germany was the silver medallist, while Turkey's Ferhat Arican won the bronze medal.

Zou took the gold after scoring a massive 16.233, which is the highest score of any gymnast - male or female - at these Games. He has dominated the event in international competition, winning the world titles in 2017 and 2018. But a slip up in the qualifying round at the 2019 World Championships found him on the outside looking in during the medal round. He was not to be denied in Tokyo.

Last up, Dauser scored 15.700.

It was a long wait for Arican, who was first up in the final. He scored 15.633 for bronze, making him the first-ever gymnast from his country to win an Olympic medal in the sport.

Arican's historic medal comes after disappointment in Rio, where the talented Turk missed the final after an error in the qualifying round. That mishap pushed him in the lead up to Tokyo 2020.

“I have missed a gold medal on the parallel bars, the gold medal just slipped out my fingers because of my tiny mistake,” Arican told Olympics.com in April. “In gymnastics, there is no room for mistakes, but I believe that I'm going to compensate for it by winning a medal in the Olympics in Tokyo.”