TOKYO (Japan): Japanese teenager Daiki Hashimoto became the youngest ever men’s all-around Olympic gymnastics champion with a superb final horizontal bars routine at the Tokyo Games on Wednesday.
The 19-year-old edged out China’s Xiao Ruoteng with Russian world champion Nikita Nagornyy taking bronze.
The boy from the Tokyo suburbs succeeds his illustrious compatriot Kohei Uchimura, the 2012 and 2016 all-around champion who chose not to go for a hat-trick after persistent shoulder injuries.
Placed third going into the final rotation, the horizontal bar, Hashimoto seized his moment, putting in a near-flawless routine, dismounting with a clap of his hands that sent a cloud of white chalk into the air.
Waiting for his score wearing a broad smile and the Japanese flag over his shoulders, Hashimoto rightly sensed he had done enough.
His 14.933 points lifted him to a total of 88.465, just 0.4 clear of Xiao on 88.065.
