By Chang-Ran Kim
PARIS (Reuters) – At the Paris Games Daiki Hashimoto has been a shadow of the gymnast who stood head and shoulders above his rivals in Tokyo, where he was crowned the youngest-ever Olympic men’s all around champion amid joyous celebrations.
Three years on and those world-beating routines have been replaced by jitters and errors.
However, the two-time world all around champion said he was not done, promising to return stronger after a failed bid to defend his Olympic crown on Wednesday.
A favourite to battle it out with China’s Zhang Boheng for the all around title, Hashimoto’s medal hopes were dashed when he slipped off the pommel horse after losing his balance going into a handstand. It proved to be a costly error that ultimately placed him sixth.
“There’s a chance to try again,” the 22-year-old told reporters through tears after the event, in which compatriot Shinnosuke Oka took the gold and Zhang the silver.
“I decided today that I’m going to look inside myself, take stock of these past three years during which I wasn’t able to improve at all, reset my feelings and work towards the next Olympics and my next goals.”
At the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games in 2021, Hashimoto earned a team silver and two individual golds, including on the horizontal bar. Winning the last two world titles as well, Hashimoto had the weight of a nation’s expectations on his shoulders despite not having fully recovered from recent debilitating injuries.
Confessing to feeling self-doubt, his second Olympic appearance had got off to a rocky start last week. At qualifications, he fell off the horizontal bar, leaving him out of the final. It also meant he could not defend his title on the apparatus.
Two days later at the team event, he made his squad’s only major error by tumbling off the pommel horse, though Japan miraculously scraped through to snatch gold.
“I have so many regrets, but that will be my springboard,” he said.
“When I look back, I’m embarrassed that I’ve been talking all this time about wanting to win the all around and individual event golds.
“The place I’m at right now is completely different from where I imagined I’d be after three years (since Tokyo 2020). But I know I’m still capable of challenging myself, so I hope to remake myself with a new start.”
(Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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