Challenges Amidst Unprecedented Circumstances

Artistic Gymnastics at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics showcased the incredible talent and determination of athletes from around the world. Among the many breathtaking moments, the High Bar Final, the very last competition, stood out as a testament to the athletes’ commitment to excellence. Yet in a”not so unexpected” turn of events, four gymnasts fell during their routines, and two fell twice, adding a nail-biting twist to an already intense competition.

With the world reeling from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the competition took place under unique circumstances. Gymnasts faced the daunting task of performing without the luxury of a proper touch warm-up and the added difficulty of wearing masks the entire time, except during their routines. Unfortunately, these circumstances resulted in a series of falls during the final, making it a truly memorable and somewhat infamous event.

The gap between the 1st and the 8th gymnast in qualifications was 0.633. In the final, it was 3.8. The average score in QX was 14.587. In the final, it was 13.378… No warm-up, masks on until they got on the podium. We heard later that the time between the latest training and the final was quite long (the rule has been changed since then and gymnasts now have a touch warm-up in event finals too).

Artistic gymnastics can be cruel

The first to go was Milad Karimi who had qualified in second position with a solid combo of high difficulty and execution scores. Unfortunately he was the first one to fall… and he fell twice on the same element (Kovacs), that he usually connected to a Kolman. After his second fall, he was defeated and shortened his routine. As a result, his difficulty score was only 5.0, as opposed to 6.4 in qualifications.

He was followed by Nikita Nagornyy, one of the best All Arounder of these Olympics but not exactly a high bar specialist – he usually doesn’t reach high bar finals. He had the second lowest difficulty score but a rather good execution in qualifications During the final, his routine was smooth and his score remained stable at 14.533. He was a big favorite for gold in the All Around competition and a very serious contender for a medal on Floor and on Vault but I don’t think he expected to win his only event finals medal on High Bar… Nobody really did.

Brody Malone’s routine was quite good with a beautiful Cassina and an excellent Kolman, followed by a great Tkachev combo but an uncharacteristic mistake by the end of his routine made him lose his momentum and he unfortunately got the lowest E scores out of the 4 gymnasts who didn’t fall.

Takeru Kitazono also fell twice (Cassina and Tkachev) but he did beautiful German giants and a stoi (falling twice but sticking a dismount in the same routine is rather bad ass ). His D score was higher by two tenths but his E score declined by 2.3 points compared to qualifications.

Next was Tyson Bull, the only male artistic gymnast representing Australia and whose progress on High Bar since the 2017 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships has been outstanding. He qualified to Tokyo thanks to his performance at the 2019 Worlds in Stuttgart. All the big “Kovacs & Co.” releases went well but things started being weird just before his Yamawaki and then, I’m not sure what happened but he came off after going a bit faster and losing pace. Goddamn! 🦘🐨

Meanwhile, Nikita Nagornyy started thinking he might really win his only event final medal on high bar…
2017 World Champion on this apparatus was next: Tin Srbić, the only male gymnast representing Croatia, qualified in 3rd position and was one of the rare gymnasts at this level (with 2019 Artistic Gymnastics World Champion Arthur Nory) not to include a Kovacs family element in his routines but to capitalize on the connection of 4 Tkachevs. His routine was very solid. He was only the second gymnast so far to get an E score above 8.0 and he took the lead over Nagornyy.

Hashimoto Daiki was already the All Around champion and had won silver in the Teams final. He was the favorite with a qualification score at 15.033 and a solid track record on this apparatus. The quality of his routine was outstanding, great body lines, great control and fluidity. He slightly improved his total score and took the lead, knocking Brody out of medal contention

The last to go was Bart Deurloo, charismatic member of the charismatic Dutch team, that unfortunately didn’t qualify to the Games; he was in Tokyo with his teammate Epke Zonderland, who had an excellent track record this quad, with medals at the 2017 and 2018 Worlds and 2018 and 2019 Euros) but couldn’t qualify to the final. Bart won bronze in Montréal in 2017 and his qualification to the final was a great and well-deserved achievement. At this stage of the competition, just remaining on the bar could be enough to get on the podium. Unfortunately, after a rather good Cassina, he failed to catch the bar after his Kolman. Verdomme…

That was a sad way to end these Games…

FINAL RESULTS:

Hashimoto Daiki 6.5+8.556=15.066
Tin Srbić 6.5+8.400=14.900
Nikita Nagornyy 6.0+8.533=14.533
Brody Malone 6.5+7.700=14.2008
Tyson Bull 5.8+6.666=12.466
Kitazono Takeru 6.1+6.233=12.333
Bart Deurloo 5.6+6.666=12.266
Milad Karimi 5.0+6.266=11.266

The combination of the lack of warm-up and the requirement to wear masks had a profound impact on the performance of the gymnasts. With limited time to adjust and adapt to the equipment, the athletes were at a higher risk of making mistakes. The absence of a proper touch warm-up likely contributed to the difficulty in executing complex elements and maintaining a consistent rhythm on the high bar.

More :
Tokyo 2020 Artistic Gymnastics High Bar Results
Men’s Artistic Gymnastics: A Guide to the Scoring System