Tokyo 2020 men’s gymnastics preview: how to watch, new skills and historic medals
As the clock winds down to the opening day of men’s gymnastics at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, it’s time to forecast expectations of the competition in Japan. This Olympics will include big performances from the top countries and athletes, new skills and the potential for nations to capture their first-ever Olympic medals.
The qualifying round for men’s gymnastics begins Saturday, July 24, with Team USA competing in Subdivision 3 at 6:30 a.m. ET on NBC.
Meet the powerhouses
The team medals for the 2020 Games are projected to be a similar combination of that from the Rio Games and past two world championships, with Japan, Russia and China expected to take the podium again. Back in 2016, Japan claimed the team gold, followed by Russia and China.
This year, the Russian Olympic Committee has a promising chance of bumping up to gold. Led by 2019 world all-around champion Nikita Nagornyy, this could be the country’s first team gold since 1996. Nagornyy’s fellow Olympic veterans David Belyavskiy and Denis Ablyazin will also be competing in Tokyo for the ROC.
As for Japan, its four-person team will be lacking two-time Olympic all-around champion Kohei Uchimura. Uchimura will be competing in Tokyo but as an individual and will not being pursuing a defense of his 2012 and 2016 all-around titles. The 32-year-old is focusing his energy on high bar for what is expected to be his final Games.
Without Uchimura leading the team, stars Kaya Kazuma and Hashimoto Daiki are expected to carry the weight for Japan.
Capitalizing on Japan’s lack of Olympic experience and lower difficulty levels, China has a good chance of surpassing the host nation in this Games. The 2018 world team champion will battle Russia for gold in what is expected to be a tight competition to gold.
China’s four-man team includes 2017 world all-around champion Xiao Ruoteng and Sun Wei.
The stateside boys
Team USA will be looking to break its fifth place rut after it finished behind fourth-place finisher Great Britain at both the 2012 and 2016 Games. This year, however, GB seems to be prioritizing individual medal potential over a well-rounded team, which could give the U.S. a chance to improve on those finishes.
2021 NCAA all-around champion and U.S. all-around champion Brody Malone will lead the U.S. men alongside two-time Olympian and six-time all-around champion Sam Mikulak. Yul Moldauer and Shane Wiskus round out the main four-man team.
The U.S. group will need to see large mistakes from the powerhouse nations in order to have a chance at the podium, given that the difficulty scores of the those three teams are far and above the rest of the competition.
Men look to bring home their country’s first medal
For many competitors, this Olympics could mark history for themselves and their country.
Philippine’s Carlos Yulo, the 2019 world floor champion, could win the first-ever Olympic gymnastics medal for his country. In fact, it could be the first Olympic medal in any sport to go back to the Philippines.
It was recently revealed that Yulo arrived to the Games with a hip injury that is expected to keep him from executing his full difficulty set on floor, including his popular triple back.
Pommel horse is another event that could see history for small countries, with Lee Chih-kai of Chinese Taipei and Rhys McClenaghan of Ireland looking to win their nations’ first-ever gymnastics medals.
Turkey also has a shot of earning their first Olympic gymnastics medal, with 2019 world rings champion Ibrahim Colak in the mix for the podium.
Uchimura opens the door for the all-around title
With Uchimura not seeking to defend his all-around title, the door is wide open for other top contenders of the past few years.
ROC’s Nagornyy is the clear front runner to take gold, and could become the first Russian all-around gold medalist since Alexei Nemov in 2000.
Nagornyy’s teammate, Artur Dalaloyan, would typically be in that race for first if he was health, but seeing as he tore his Achilles and had surgery for it in April, the 2018 World all-around champion could have a hard time staying competitive for the podium, if he even competes all-around at all.
Other men in the conversation for an all-around medal include China’s strongest all-arounders Sun and Xiao, who finished fourth and fifth, respectively, at 2019 worlds.
Host nation Japan’s best bet of medaling comes from 19-year-old Hashimoto Daiki. Hashimoto has proven to be the top all-arounder in Japan this year after getting an additional year of training under his belt.
Nagornyy’s triple pike headlines floor competition
In 2016, GB’s Max Whitlock took gold on floor exercise and could once again contend for the podium in Tokyo, but he’s faced with a highly competitive field.
Nagornyy’s new triple pike – which is now named after him – is expected to be the star of the floor final.
Nagornyy will face a challenge in Yulo and Artem Dolgopyat of Israel.
Spain is entering the conversation on floor exercise with 2015 world floor champion Rayderley Zapata, who qualified for Tokyo via the Individual Apparatus World Cup series.
Whitlock once again leads field on pommel horse
Whitlock will be looking to defend his Olympic pommel horse title after a nearly perfect routine of 15.966 in Rio. The gymnast adds 2015, 2017, and 2019 world champion to his resume and posts an unmatched 7.000 difficulty score on the event.
Chinese Taipei’s Lee, with his flairs-heavy set, is expected to be Whitlock’s toughest competition. McClenaghan is right in that mix as well with a hit set.
Team USA’s pommel horse specialist, Alec Yoder, has the distinction of being the most consistent U.S. gymnast on the apparatus this year. As hit set in qualifications would almost guarantee the gymnast a spot in the final, but mathematically, he’s an outside shot for the podium.
Lord of the Rings gets chance to defend title
At one point, it seemed like we wouldn’t be able to see reigning Olympic champion Eleftherios Petrounias of Greece try to defend his Olympic title, but the “Lord of the Rings” qualified for the Olympics at the very last qualifier in June, posting the top score in the Individual Apparatus World Cup standings by the smallest of margins.
Challenging Petrounias will be two-time Olympic medalist Arthur Zanetti of Brazil, who won gold in 2012 and silver in 2016.
Lining up with the veterans is Ibrahim Colak of Turkey who makes his Olympic debut.
China’s Liu Yang is in the mix for the podium as well, despite just missing a medal in Rio with a fourth-place finish.
Samir Ait Said of France is looking to have a skill named after him in Tokyo. The move involves rolling backward slowly with straight arms and body to handstand through swallow. If done successfully, it will be named after him in the Men’s Gymnastics Code of Points.
Nagornyy looking to vault to the top of the podium
The only returning athlete from the Rio vault podium will be silver medalist Albyazin of the ROC. Albyazin’s teammate, Nagornyy, could also find another medal on vault.
Ukraine makes its first competitive appearance here with reigning bronze medalist Igor Radivilov.
2012 Olympic gold medalist Yang Hak-Seon of Korea is back in contention for gold after taking an injury-related pause and missing the 2016 Games.
Retired Olympians leave room on parallel bars podium
With 2016 gold medalist Oleg Vernyayev unable to compete due to a suspension by the FIG, and silver medalist Danell Levya since retired, the Tokyo parallel bars podium is open to a whole new field.
China’s Zou Jingyuan is on gold medal watch after his first place performance at 2018 Worlds, posting even higher scores at this years Olympic Trials. China, who historically is a parallel bars powerhouse, also brings You Hao into the mix.
The ROC has a strong presence on this event as well, with individual Vladislav Poliashov as a top podium contender.
Team USA’s Mikulak, Yul Moldauer, and Shane Wiskus are all strong on this event, but they’ll have to see mistakes from top contenders in order to reach the podium.
Uchimura is also expected to compete parallel bars during qualifying. Another historically strong event for the Japanese gymnast, competing a second event during qualifying is also good way to take the pressure off just one routine, whether he makes the final or not.
This event will see three gymnasts trying to make history with their own original moves. Ludovico Edalli of Italy and Malone will be attempting the same move: a forward uprise with Stutz that finishes in a sideways handstand on the rail. If both men do it successfully in the same phase of competition, the element will be named after both of them. If one does it successfully before the other, that individual gymnast will claim the name.
Ilia Kovutun of Ukraine’s move will come later in his routine, a forward uprise with Stutz or Salto backward to handstand sideways on one rail. With no one else in the race for the move, the 17-year-old just needs one successful attempt at any point of competition.
Tokyo hoping for a better high bar grip than Rio
High Bar seemed to be the crashing event for the men’s competition in Rio, with most of the top athletes literally and figuratively losing their grip on the event.
Uchimura, who didn’t qualify for the finals in Rio due to a fall, is looking to redeem himself and is the favorite to win the event. His routine is highlighted by his trademark opening Bretschneider.
Brody Malone could be America’s best chance at a medal in this event, as he has been consistent and posted high scores with his difficult routine all year. He will be battling Brazil’s Arthur Mariano and and 2019 world silver medalist Tin Srbic of Croatia.
Tokyo 2020 gymnastics schedule
| Day (Japan ST) | Session | Start Time (ET) | Watch (US) |
| Saturday, July 24 | Men’s Qualifying | Subdivision 1: 9 p.m. (Friday, July 23) Subdivision 2: 1:30 a.m. Subdivision 3: 6:30 a.m. | NBC |
| Sunday, July 25 | Women’s Qualifying | Subdivision 1: 8:30 p.m. (Saturday, July 24) Subdivision 2: 10:25 p.m. (Saturday, July 24) Subdivision 3: 2:10 a.m. Subdivision 4: 4:05 a.m. Subdivision 5: 7:20 a.m. | NBC |
| Monday, July 26 | Men’s Team Final | 6 a.m. | NBC |
| Tuesday, July 27 | Women’s Team Final | 6:45 a.m. | NBC |
| Wednesday, July 28 | Men’s All-Around Final | 6:15 a.m. | NBC |
| Thursday, July 29 | Women’s All-Around Final | 6:50 a.m. | NBC |
| Sunday, August 1 | Event Finals: Men’s FX, PH; Women’s VT, UB | 4 a.m. | NBC |
| Monday, August 2 | Event Finals: Men’s VT, SR; Women’s FX | 4 a.m. | NBC |
| Tuesday, August 3 | Event Finals: Men’s PB, HB; Women’s BB | 4 a.m. | NBC |
To find the full Olympic schedule for both men’s and women’s gymnastics, click here and continue to follow along on GymNow’s social channels!
