PARIS (AP) — Zou Jingyuan lived up to his nickname.
The King of Parallel Bars was close to perfection Monday to defend his Olympic title on the apparatus on the final day of artistic gymnastics at the Paris Games.
It was Zou’s third medal in Paris after he and his teammates were runner-up behind Japan in the team event. He also claimed a silver in rings.
Zou, who is also a three-time world champion in the discipline, claimed gold ahead of Illia Kovtun of Ukraine. Shinnosuke Oka of Japan, the all-around champion, took bronze.
A right shoulder injury has been hampering Zou in the buildup to the Games and in Paris. He said his “passion for gymnastics” helped him through.
“I’m super excited for this result, because coming to these Olympics, I had injuries,” he said. “I didn’t really practice that much. But I went through my routine over and over again in my head, so many times. I had pain in my body, but coming here and seeing all the crowd supporting us has helped me a lot. It made me feel better.”
There is a final gold medal to be decided later Monday in the men’s competition, on the horizontal bar. It’s another chance for China to add to its tally of Olympic titles after Zhang Boheng posted the highest score in qualifying.
Kovtun kicked off the event with a difficult routine that included a spectacular handstand on one rail that impressed judges and earned him a score of 15.500.
He remained in the lead until Zou posted a massive 16.200 with a sublime routine combining strength elements with impressive aerials that he capped with a stuck dismount. That was the highest single score in artistic gymnastics at these Games.
It was a rare feat from Zou, who became the first man to defend his title on parallel bars at the Olympics since Sawao Kato of Japan in 1976.
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