The Russian Olympic Committee narrowly defeated Japan in Monday's men's gymnastics final, earning its first gold medal since the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Russia's 262.500 team total ranked just above silver medalist Japan 262.39 and bronze medalist China 261.894.
After taking a lead after the third rotation, the ROC tumbled out of it and faced a medal-deciding floor routine from Nikita Nagornyy. Nagornyy came through with a 14.600, instantly delivering an elated reaction from his teammates.
Russian Artur Dalaloyan helped lead his team to gold and did so under extraordinary circumstances. Just three months before his medal-winning night, the 25-year-old underwent surgery to repair a torn achilles tendon. Most require two to three times longer than that to recover.
Russian Olympic Committee athlete Artur Dalaloyan tore his Achilles just three months ago.
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 27, 2021
He just led his team to gold in the men's team gymnastics final 😳 pic.twitter.com/gQsGWrT4BQ
The U.S. finished fifth with a 254.594 team total, making it three consecutive medal-less Olympic appearances for the squad.
As of Tuesday night the ROC is ranked fourth in total 2020 Tokyo Olympics medals with 14. Only the U.S. (19) and China (18) have more thus far.
