As the Paris 2024 Olympic Games begins soon in July, there’s obvious talk and attention over the newly announced squads from each countries. One such event that has gotten a lot attention is the gymnastics event.
There were also some crowd favourites and Olympic medallists who unfortunately did not make it to gymnastic squads of their countries due to multiple reasons.
We take a look at the top male gymnasts who will miss out on the Paris edition of the Olympics.
Denis Ablyazin
Denis Ablyazin represented the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
Denis Ablyazin represented the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, earning gold in team all-around and silver in vault events. However, due to sanctions following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian athletes, including Ablyazin, are unlikely to compete under their flag at the Paris Olympics. Ablyazin previously competed under the Russian flag at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympics, winning a total of five medals across both Games.
Shin Jae-hwan
Shin Jae-hwan and Denis Ablyazin finished with the same final scores in the vault event at the Tokyo Olympics, but the former took gold based on a higher individual score. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
While Denis Ablyazin will not be at this Olympics to try and better his 2020 performance, the man who beat him to the gold medal in the vault event, South Korea’s Shin Jae-hwan, will not be competing in Paris either. Shin Jae-hwan and Ablyazin dramatically finished with the same final scores in the vault event, and the former took gold based on a higher individual score. However, the Korean too misses out and is not named as a part of the South Korean contingent for this Olympics.
Lin Chaopan
Lin Chaopan, China’s two-time Olympic bronze medallist, will miss out. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
The Chinese contingent finished with the bronze medal in the team all-around event in Tokyo 2020, and hopes will be high that they can do well again with three out of the four from 2020 (Sun Wei, Xiao Ruoteng, and Zou Jinyuang) coming back. However, Lin Chaopan, the two-time Olympic bronze medallist, will miss out, and in his place, Zhang Boheng and Liu Yang have come in instead.
Takeru Kitazono
Takeru Kitazono, the then-18-year-old, was a part of the Japanese team that secured a silver medal in Tokyo 2020. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
Takeru Kitazono, the then-18-year-old, was a part of the Japanese team that secured a silver medal in Tokyo 2020. However, come Paris 2024, Kitazono missed out on qualification, and will not be a part of the Japanese team that aims to reclaim the gold medal they had secured at the 2016 Olympics. Instead, Daiki Hashimoto (who won the horizontal bar gold as well), Kazuma Kaya, and Wataru Tanigawa from 2020 will be joined by Shinnosuke Oka and Takaai Sugino this time.
Dong Dong
Dong Dong he will not be at the Paris 2024 Games, having retired from the sport in 2021. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
Dong Dong is a decorated athlete, having won four Olympic medals in trampoline gymnastics, including bronze at Beijing 2008, gold at London 2012, silver at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. However, he will not be at the Paris 2024 Games, having retired from the sport in 2021 and moved into coaching instead. Instead, Wang Zisai and Yan Langyu will compete in the men’s trampoline events for China.
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