Fraser and Jarman Shine but Miss Out on Medals at Olympic Gymnastics

In an exciting men’s all-around final, British gymnasts Joe Fraser and Jake Jarman narrowly missed the podium as Japan’s Shinnosuke Oka took home the gold medal. China’s Zhang Boheng and Xiao Ruoteng grabbed the silver and bronze, respectively, while defending champion Daiki Hashimoto from Japan faced an early fall on the pommel horse.

Fraser finished fifth, and Jarman came in seventh, right after Team GB placed fourth in both the men’s and women’s team competitions this week. Fraser, who has battled through several surgeries in recent years, was consistent and delivered standout performances on the parallel bars and high bar, scoring a total of 85.532, just 0.832 points shy of a bronze medal.

“To finish fifth in an Olympic Games, I couldn’t be prouder,” said Fraser, who had previously finished ninth in Tokyo. “For me, it was all about having fun today. I was really disappointed after the team final, so I felt I had nothing to lose and went for everything I wanted to.”

Jarman also had a great day, hitting the highest vault score of 15.166. He increased the difficulty of his routines from the qualifiers and nailed every routine, finishing with a total of 84.565. Historically, Great Britain has only won one medal in this event, which was Max Whitlock‘s bronze in Rio 2016.

At 22, Jarman still has a solid shot at an individual medal. He qualified as the top gymnast for the floor final on Saturday and heads into the vault final on Sunday as the reigning world champion on that apparatus. “Tonight is going to help a tonne for my individual finals,” he said. “To be able to get out there again and not have to wait for a week will help keep the momentum going. I can’t wait to do it again.”

Team GB still has a bunch of chances to grab gymnastics medals, with Whitlock competing in the pommel horse final, Harry Hepworth in the rings and vault final, Luke Whitehouse in the floor final, and Becky Downie in the uneven bars final.

The all-around final was filled with drama. Top qualifier Zhang stumbled during his floor routine, and Tokyo champion Hashimoto fell off the pommel horse, leaving the competition wide open for Oka, who seized the opportunity to ensure that a Japanese gymnast has now won the title of world’s best all-around male gymnast for four consecutive Olympics.

This win marks Japan’s second gymnastics gold medal of the Games following their triumph in the men’s team final. The excitement didn’t stop there, as Canadian gymnast Felix Dolci experienced a serious mishap when his handguards broke while on the high bar. The audience gasped as he fell, but thankfully, he got back up and was allowed to perform his routine again, after swapping in a fresh pair of handguards that were bloodstained by the end of his performance.