Daiki Hashimoto transformed heartache into unimaginable joy as he overcame a fall from the pommel horse to power Japan to the gold medal, edging out China in a
pulsating gymnastics men's team final at the Paris Olympics on July 29.
While Hashimoto led Japan to their eighth men's team title at the Games, the United States celebrated their first Olympic team medal since 2008, securing bronze.
Just when it seemed China had the title in the bag, leading Japan by more than three points with only three performances left on their final apparatus, the high bar, Su Weide fell twice during his routine, turning the title race into a nail-biter.
When the chalk settled, Japan emerged victorious with a total of 259.594 points, less than a point ahead of China.
The US men put on a superb performance and secured the bronze after nailing most of their landings in the competition. Photo by Anne Jea., Wikimedia commons.