For a decade the Chinese men’s gymnastics team flitted above the fray, a red-clad powerhouse who collected gold medals with impressive frequency. The reign is over. Maybe for good. Welcome to the new world order. China, you’ve got company. Lots of it. Japan captured their first world title in nearly 40 years, racing to an early lead and then holding on despite a late fall from star Kohei Uchimura, a breakthrough moment for a programme that has spent two generations chasing but rarely catching its rival. Britain roared to second, leaving the Chinese to settle for bronze in their lowest finish in a major international competition since the 2004 Olympics. Russia was fourth, followed by the US. Yet it was China’s slide that reset the narrative with a suddenly wide-open Rio Olympics looming next summer. “It’s a warning for all of us,” China’s Zhang Chenglong said. “Because it’s a competition, there are always successes and failures. No one can be the forever winner.” Japan posted a score of 270.818, just 0.473 better than the Brits and nearly a full point better than the Chinese. Japan’s long climb to the top of the podium didn’t come easy. Uchimura was in the middle of his high bar routine on the final rotation when the massive scoreboard showed the British overtaking China and momentarily moving into the top spot. The explosion of noise as the arena realised what happened seemed to rattle the five-time world champion. Uchimura flew off the bar almost immediately, putting the one medal lacking on his peerless resume in doubt. He hopped back up to finish, but it left the outcome in the hands of the same judging panel that awarded China last year’s team title by a tenth of a point. Surrounded by his teammates, Uchimura leaned forward on the vault runway. When their leader’s 14.446 flashed, the usually demure Japanese thrust their arms skyward in celebration even if their star was still a little ticked. “I’m not so satisfied because I couldn’t make a perfect routine on high bar,” he said. Maybe, but the 26-year-old Uchimura gently ran his fingers over his country’s first world championship since 1978 as he spoke, perhaps checking to see if it was real. The Chinese have remained elusive, just out of reach for the Japanese and well above everyone else. In 30 minutes, China’s supremacy crumbled. “Gymnastics is not a confrontational sport but one in which we display ourselves,” Zhang said. “We lost to ourselves this time. We will seek answers in ourselves.”
