PARIS: Chinese gymnasts were again left counting the cost of their errors after Zhang Boheng and Xiao Ruoteng were beaten to the top prize for the second time in three days by a Japanese rival at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday.
Two days after China threw away the men's team title with two botched performances in the closing stages of that competition, Zhang and Xiao fell short of gold in the all-round final but were pleased to have improved since their heartbreaking silver medal.
Zhang Boheng trailed Japanese gold-medallist Shinnosuke Oka by just 0.233 of a point to take silver, while his countryman Xiao Ruoteng claimed bronze.
Zhang looked distraught after messing up his second tumbling pass on the floor exercise, his first apparatus. He landed on his hands and knees and even bumped his head on the floor.
After drawing a disappointing 13.233, he knew he could not afford any more mishaps.
"On the floor, indeed I made error but I readjusted, collected my bearings and continued to work hard," he said.
"Later on in the other apparatus, I worked very hard to catch up to my competitors."
Zhang, the top qualifier for the all-around final, was the last competitor to go on the horizontal bar, with the gold medal still up for grabs.
He executed a near flawless routine and his exuberant celebrations following his dismount seemed to suggest that he thought he had done enough to snatch the gold from his Japanese rival, who did not put a foot wrong all day long.
"In the end, I didn't win gold. But looking back at my performance, sure, there were errors, but I think I progressed," Zhang said.
"To lose is normal, but how do you pick yourself up after losing matters. That's a life lesson I want to learn."
Bronze medallist Xiao was one of two Chinese gymnasts who messed up their horizontal bar displays in the team event, with Su Weide being the other.
Two days after bungling his dismount, Xiao said he felt like crying with happiness when he completed a near flawless display on the bar.
"For me personally, I believe I brought forward my A-game," he said.
"After I had the heartbreaking moment in the team event, I was able to collect myself and work really hard."
Men's gymnastics resumes on Friday, with the floor exercise and pommel horse finals. --REUTERS