PARIS: Defending all-around champion Daiki Hashimoto faces a ferocious fight if the Japanese gymnastics star is to hold onto his Tokyo crown at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday.
Revenge is a powerful motivating force and one that will be driving his main rival Zhang Boheng after China's late collapse in the team final.
The Zhang-led China had Monday's final in the bag, leading by over three points with only the horizontal bar remaining.
But disaster struck when Su Weide fell twice. Tokyo bar champion Hashimoto, the last Japanese man to go, then held his nerve to produce a flawless title-clinching routine.
Up to that moment, double world all-around champion Hashimoto had looked a long way from his brilliant best.
He was the youngest ever all-round gold medallist at the Covid-delayed 2020 Games – then aged just 19 – but in Paris he had been eclipsed by Zhang in qualifying, and even failed to make the bar final.
By contrast Zhang, 24, has excelled, topping the list of 24 qualifiers from Japan's Shinnosuke Oka, with Hashimoto three and a half points behind in third.
"My form was excellent, beyond my expectations," Zhang, who edged Hashimoto for the world title in 2021, beamed after Saturday's qualifying.
Forty-eight hours later, after the devastating team final collapse, Zhang's smile had vanished – in its place the haunted look of a man who had just won the lottery, but lost his ticket.
"We are frustrated. Up to then we have done very well," he said dejectedly.
If he can put that loss to one side he has a superb shot at ending Japan's recent dominance and becoming China's first all-around champion since Yang Wei at the Beijing Games in 2008.
But if Hashimoto delivers he will emulate countryman Kohei Uchimura by retaining all-around gold, and keep it in Japanese hands for an unprecedented fourth consecutive Games.
He readily concedes he has failed to find top gear so far in Paris, pointing to an injury-disrupted build-up to the 2024 Games – he stumbled on his high bar dismount in qualifying, and fell off the pommel horse on Monday.
"There were so many tough moments. In May, I injured myself. That brought me down a little bit and I started doubting whether I could get gold or not," he said.
"In the qualification competition, I wasn't perfect. Again, that impacted my confidence."
Team gold could prove just the tonic he needed ahead of this clash of titans.--AFP