Rio de Janeiro - Japan's Kohei Uchimura fulfilled his number one goal at the Rio Games by helping his team mates claim the men's gymnastics title on Monday to end the eight-year Olympic reign of rivals China.
Japan's hopes of winning the title they last claimed in 2004, during the pre-Uchimura era, got off to a wobbly start when Koi Yamamuro lost his grip on the pommel horse and rolled off the block of wood.
That score of 13.900 was their only blip on Monday as they put in a command performance on the remaining five pieces of apparatus to win the gold with a total of 274.094.
China, top in qualifying, were in danger of missing out on the medals when stumbles and falls on the vault, rings and floor exercise left them trailing fifth with two rotations to go.
But they surged back with a strong showing in the parallel bars to claim bronze with a total of 271.122.
Russia's Rio participation was in the balance until the last minute due to the doping scandal surrounding their country's sportspeople but the distraction did not stop them getting a surprise silver as they finished 2.641 points being Japan.
Reuters