Great Britain came up short in their bid to claim a first Olympic men’s team gymnastics medal since London 2012.
The team, comprising Max Whitlock, Jake Jarman, Joe Fraser, Luke Whitehouse and Harry Hepworth, finished in fourth place, more than two points off bronze medallists the USA, while Japan dramatically pipped China for gold.
The British team, who had qualified for the final in third place, did not do much wrong, but were simply edged out by a series of small margins, left with too much to do by the time they reached their final and arguably strongest rotation on the floor.
Above them, the competition saw a dramatic late twist when China’s Su Weide fell twice from the high bar, earning a score of 11.6 that allowed Japan to sneak in with a brilliant, nerveless from Daiko Hashimoto to snare their first team gold since 2016.
Whitlock, who will defend his individual pommel final on Saturday, top-scored with 15.266 on his favourite apparatus, but otherwise he and his team-mates rather huffed and puffed through the competition, slowly sliding further adrift of their rivals.
There was no particular culprit in a relatively clean performance from all of the medal contenders – former world champion Fraser might have expected more than 14.633 from his parallel bars, and Whitehouse touched his hands down when landing his vault.
Whitlock meanwhile, contesting additional apparatus to his pommel for the first time since 2016, contributed relatively modest totals of 13.9 and 13.0 for his parallel bars and high bar routines respectively.
Britain had stood third at the halfway point, largely due to reigning all-around champion Hashimoto coming off the pommel for Japan, who sat a lowly fifth but were yet to contest the higher-scoring vault.
As Britain faded, Japan rose back into contention while the Americans continued to loudly express their readiness for a first men’s team medal since Los Angeles in 1984, Frederick Richard in particular posting a crucial 14.833 on the high bar.
Britain stood almost four points adrift of the podium by the time they reached their final rotation, and despite strong displays from Jarman and Whitehouse, they were never realistically going to haul back the deficit.
Despite disappointment at finishing fourth for the third straight Games, the British quintet will console themselves in the knowledge that all five are set to return later this week having qualified for their respective individual finals.
