By Steve Keating
TOKYO (Reuters) – Israeli gymnast Artem Dolgopyat won the men’s individual floor exercise by a whisker on Sunday, edging Spain’s Rayderley Zapata after both posted the same score to win his country’s first gold medal at Tokyo 2020.
Dolgopyat, twice a world silver medallist in the same event, posted a score of 14.933, the same as Zapata. But the Israeli took top spot on the podium because his routine had a higher degree of difficulty.
China’s Xiao Ruoteng took the bronze for his third medal of the Tokyo Games.
In what was the first apparatus final, hot favourite Nikita Nagornyy, the first to compete, saw his medal chances evaporate when he stumbled out of bounds on his opening tumbling pass. That left the Russian Olympic Committee athlete well out of contention on a mark of 13.066.
The competition was once again missing its star attraction as American Simone Biles scratched from both the uneven bar and vault finals.
Biles has not been seen in competition since dropping out of the team event on Tuesday after just one vault saying later that she was wrestling with mental health issues and a crisis of confidence.
The 24-year-old American is the reigning Olympic and world champion on the vault.
The men’s floor was the start of what will be the busiest day at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre with four event finals, also including the men’s pommel horse.
(Reporting by Steve Keating in Tokyo; editing by John Stonestreet)
