PARIS (Reuters) - China’s Zou Jingyuan handily beat his rivals to retain the Olympic parallel bars title on Monday, picking up his third medal of the Paris Games and giving his country a second gold in gymnastics.
The 26-year-old, nicknamed ‘king of parallel bars’ for his dominance on the apparatus, earned a staggering 16.200 points, head and shoulders above the rest.
“I’m super excited for this result, because coming to these Olympics, I had injuries,” he said. “I didn’t really practise 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.”
Illia Kovtun took silver with 15.500, earning Ukraine their first podium finish in the sport in Paris. Japan’s Shinnosuke Oka, who won gold in the team and all-around events, took the bronze with 15.300.
Zhou maintained poise, precision and momentum throughout his performance and drew deafening cheers from the crowd as he executed a straddle front somersault.