Olympics-Gymnastics-China win long-awaited gold with Liu retaining rings title

Paris 2024 Olympics - Artistic Gymnastics - Men's Rings Final - Bercy Arena, Paris, France - August 04, 2024. Yang Liu of China in action on the Rings. /Amanda Perobelli

PARIS - Liu Yang flexed his muscles to successfully defend his Olympic title in the rings final on Sunday, earning China their long-awaited first gold medal in gymnastics at the Paris Games.

The 29-year-old scored 15.300 points, edging out compatriot Zou Jingyuan's 15.233.

Finishing 1-2 in the strongman's event might have been something of a redemption for China's gymnasts, who had narrowly missed out on gold in both the team and all-around finals.

But the painful loss to Japan in the team event still grated, leaving Liu with mixed feelings and plenty of regret.

"Even though I'm very happy for myself with the gold, I still haven't got over the fact that we lost the gold medal in the team final. That is still hard for me," he said.

"If I could, I would trade today's gold medal for the team gold; that would make me happier. I haven't become the great gymnast I aspire to be because I haven't done enough for my teammates."

In last Monday's team final, China looked to have the title wrapped up until two of their gymnasts bungled their routines in spectacular fashion on the final apparatus, handing Japan an improbable 11th-hour win.

Team China settled for a bitter silver, while two days later, Zhang Boheng also had to take silver behind Japan's Shinnosuke Oka in the men's all-around final.

Rings silver medallist Zou had been the top qualifier for the final, with Team Japan head coach Hisashi Mizutori calling the Chinese gymnast's rings routine "beautiful, powerful and inimitable". But on Sunday, he fell short of the gold by a razor thin margin of 0.067 of a point.

"During the team finals, I felt discomfort in my shoulder as soon as I jumped, which made me hesitant to perform some movements," said Zou, who has had problems with injuries all year.

"However, today's performance on the rings was better than in the preliminaries."

Greece's Eleftherios Petrounias, meanwhile, was ecstatic.

The 2016 Rio champion broke down in tears when his bronze medal was confirmed with 15.100 - one-tenth of a point ahead of France's Samir Ait Said, a crowd favourite and personal friend.

"I couldn't keep it (together)," said the 33-year-old who also finished third in Tokyo 2020.

"I really hate fourth place. So I feel so sorry for Samir. If I could get him with me on the podium, I would've done it."