Gap between winners and runners-up just 0.103 pointsGreat
Britain delighted with excellent fourth placeFor what felt like beyond an eternity, all Nikita Nagornyy could do was stand on the light blue borders of the floor and wait for his turn. First he waited as the Chinese team, seemingly out of the race early on, finished solidly enough to give themselves a chance. Then he watched on as a great talent began to blossom, the 19-year-old new superstar of Japanese gymnastics, Daiki Hashimoto, finishing his spotless horizontal bar routine with a stuck landing.
Then, finally, he stepped up for his floor routine.
Russian gymnasts had not won a team gold medal in 25 years. Nagornyy, arguably the best men’s gymnast and floor worker in the world, was expected to deliver in the final routine of the final. Under huge pressure, he did just that with six spotless landings. The Russian Olympic Committee became men’s team all-around Olympic champions by edging out the brilliantly young Japanese team by just 0.103 points. They finished with 262.500 points to Japan’s 262.397.