Olympic Gymnastics 2016: Complete Guide to Men's Events in Rio
There's something compelling about watching the greats perform.
Even though you know going in, their victories are essentially inevitable, it's still worth watching to see just how high they can push the bar.
So if that's your thing, the men's gymnastics program in Rio de Janeiro will be your jam.
The competition will feature a man whose name is included in chatter about the greatest male gymnasts of all time, as well as a team that's won all but one Olympic championship since capturing its first 16 years ago.
And while the Americans don't measure up in terms of global street cred, there's nearly always an athlete or two whose story captures the public's imagination and whose performance surprises the experts.
Here's a look at all you need to know to keep up on the greatest show in gymnastics.
Overview and History
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The ancient Greeks believed gymnastics to be the perfect symmetry between mind and body.
So it's no surprise gymnastics was included when the Olympic Games were revived in Athens in 1896.
The sport evolved into what can be traced to its modern form by 1924, when men's individual apparatus competitions—as well as the team championship—arrived.
The Soviet Union and its subsequent offshoots were team champions in six of 12 Olympic competitions from 1952 to 2000, when China established itself as a world powerhouse. In fact, only Japan in 2004 has unseated the Chinese since the turn of the newest century.
The lone U.S. team championship came 32 years ago in 1984, at the Games in Los Angeles that were marred by a Soviet boycott.
The Schedule
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The competitive bullets will start flying on the first full day of activity in Rio de Janeiro, when qualification begins to get gymnasts through to medal pursuits in the team, all-around and event finals.
Team finals come on Day 3, and the all-around gold will be awarded two days later on Day 5.
For a full schedule of events, click here.
Top Storylines
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Victory lap for Japanese superstar?
It's never a bad time to channel Tom Hanks' brilliant portrayal of Jimmy Dugan in A League of Their Own.
"It's supposed to be hard," Dugan said. "If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great."
And the hard is what makes the quest of Japan's Kohei Uchimura—who's aiming to become the first man to defend an Olympic all-around title in 44 years—so breathtakingly great.
Where for art thou, American exceptionalism?
Not only did the U.S. men not earn a team medal in the London Games in 2012, only one of them—Danell Leyva—managed to find the medals stand as an individual.
Fast-forward to 2016 and it's an equally murky prospect to forecast what the Americans will do this time.
Leyva is back, but only because teammate John Orozco got hurt, and the team is championed by 23-year-old Californian Sam Mikulak, who's not forecast to compete for gold in any single event.
Which Asian power will claim world supremacy?
Imagine if this were 2020 in Tokyo.
Then the country vs. country duel for the top spot in the Olympic team event between China and Japan would be occurring on one of the combatants' home turfs.
But even in Brazil, it's going to be pretty darn good.
China and Japan finished one-two among teams in each of the last two Games, and the Japanese are anxious to flip the script thanks to Kohei Uchimura's all-around prowess.
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Can’t-Miss Events
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Team Final
The "Which team is the best in the world?" question will be answered early in the Brazilian Games when the championship is up for grabs on the third day.
China and Japan figure be in the mix for the top step on the medals stand, while the U.S. is hoping to improve on the disappointment in London four years ago.
All-Around Final
It's showtime for Japanese superstar Uchimura, who'll be aiming for the first defense of an Olympic all-around championship since 1972.
If he fails, China's Deng Shudi and Cuba's Manrique Larduet aren't far behind. And it'll be interesting to see where the top American, Sam Mikulak, winds up in the mix.
Horizontal Bar Final
Day 11 in Rio will serve as Uchimura's final bow, as he goes for a horizontal-bar gold medal to go along with the all-around title he's expected to have captured several days earlier.
Among his would-be pursuers, Great Britain's Nile Wilson and the U.S.'s Danell Leyva—among others—are playing for second and third place and beyond.
Locks for Gold
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Kohei Uchimura, Japan
Yep, him again.
The more clicks you make on this pre-Olympic slideshow, the more you'll realize 27-year-old Japanese standout Kohei Uchimura is a guy from whom an awful lot is expected this month in Brazil.
A six-time world champion and defending all-around Olympic gold medalist, Uchimura is headed for gold again in both the all-around competition as well as the horizontal bar.
You Hao, China
There aren't many in the Olympic mix who can stand within arm's length of Uchimura's shadow.
But Chinese rings and bars star You Hao may be one of them.
He'll make his Olympic debut in Rio and ought to take the next competitive step in the rings after taking silver at the 2015 World Championships, while cementing his place as the best in the parallel bars after winning on the apparatus at the same world meet in Glasgow.
Team Japan
They're not the 1927 Yankees or the 1972 Dolphins.
But the 2016 Japanese team that's headed to Brazil is pretty close in terms of talent and probably beyond the curve when it comes to motivation.
Japan arrives having taken team silver behind China in each of the last two Olympics, but given Uchimura's expected prowess as well as the contributions of high-flying Kenzo Shirai in the floor exercise, it's time for a change at the top.
Dark Horses to Watch
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Deng Shudi, China
A guy as good as Japan's Uchimura makes dark horses of a lot of competitors.
But Chinese athlete Deng Shudi might be best equipped to give his rival a nudge on his way to all-time great status.
His cumulative difficulty scores were the highest in the competition at the 2015 world championship meet in Glasgow, Scotland, and he's solid enough on multiple apparatuses to remain close to the top of the heap if there's any sign of slippage on Uchimura's part.
Max Whitlock, Great Britain
Four years ago, Max Whitlock was an Olympic hero in London.
He was a member of the team that brought home Great Britain's first collective gymnastics medal in 100 years, but he arrives in Brazil this time around not only as a second all-around banana to Uchimura—after getting silver at the 2015 worlds—but also to teammate Louis Smith, who may have edged past him in the individual pommel-horse event as well.
The British will be strong in Rio, and Whitlock will surely have a say in their success, but any top-step appearances for him on the medals stand would have to be viewed as surprises.
Danell Leyva, USA
It wasn't the road to an Olympic encore that Danell Leyva was expecting to travel.
Then 20, he was the only American to earn an individual medal at the 2012 Games in London, but sloppy performances at the two qualifying events for the 2016 U.S. team left him on the sidelines as an alternate.
Another injury to snake-bitten teammate John Orozco opened the way for Leyva to have another opportunity, and perhaps the combination of previous spotlight success and motivation to perform for a friend will allow the now-24-year-old to find his way to one more big international effort.
Potential Breakout Stars
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Kohei Uchimura, Japan
If you get through a couple of weeks of Olympics watching and don't know the name Kohei Uchimura, there's a good chance you weren't paying close attention.
The Japanese athlete isn't just a gymnast; he's an all-time great gymnast. And by the time the Games are over, he won't just be a gold medalist. He'll be a superstar.
A win in Brazil will make him the first man to defend an all-around gold since Sawao Kato did so in 1972.
Sam Mikulak, USA
OK, the term "breakout star" means different things to different people.
In the case of the aforementioned Japanese star, it's a certification of all-time standing in the sport. But in the case of American Sam Mikulak, it's the product of being the young, handsome guy with big arms who's the most successful guy on a team full of otherwise pedestrian performers.
Mikulak may or may not wind up on the medals stand, but he'll certainly get his share of face time because of it.
Manrique Larduet, Cuba
He still lives in a Cuban society where freedoms are not taken for granted. But Manrique Larduet's mere presence in Brazil is a sign that things may be changing.
Cubans were banned from competitions like the Olympics and World Championships early in the new century after a series of defections from the Communist island nation.
He'll be the first Cuban gymnast at the Games since 2004, and the 20-year-old arrives having finished second behind Uchimura in the all-around at the 2015 World Championships. He also copped bronze on the horizontal bars at that meet and could emerge from Rio de Janeiro with both medals and fame in tow.
Team USA Outlook
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Regardless of any other issues, the U.S. women's team emerged from its selection process with one gigantic advantage over their male counterparts.
Simone Biles.
And as easy as it was for women's czar Marta Karolyi to pencil in Biles' name and expect a slew of gold medals to follow, it was that much more difficult to compile a men's team whose members would compete for podium positions, let alone top-step glory.
Mikulak is as close as the men have to a Biles, thanks to four consecutive national all-around titles and individual golds on four of the six apparatuses. He tends to have a flair for the dramatic and will go for big maneuvers in the Olympic spotlight, which could mean feast or famine when it comes to medals.
Aside from Mikulak, the U.S. team is a bunch of guys who'll show up, work hard and do their jobs, but perhaps never leave anyone with jaws agape. Chris Brooks is the 29-year-old captain with a slew of experience, but neither world championship nor Olympic glory on his resume. In fact, alternate-turned-team member Danell Leyva is the most direct link to tangible success, having earned a surprising all-around bronze at the 2012 Games in London.
Leyva jumped from sidelines to spotlight in Brazil when John Orozco suffered the latest in a devastating series of injuries, this time tearing an ACL after returning from a blown Achilles tendon to secure his Olympic berth.
Predictions for the Biggest Men's Gymnastics Stars
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Sam Mikulak, USA
Sam Mikulak has done everything he can do on the national level and he's been angling toward an opportunity to the Games in Rio for several years.
It says here he'll make the most of it.
Only the most optimistic of family members would pencil him in for a golden performance in any one event, but the guess here is that he'll do well enough across the board to warrant a bronze medal in the all-around competition.
Kohei Uchimura, Japan
Meanwhile, where Mikulak would likely exit Brazil thrilled with any medal, Japan's Kohei Uchimura arrives with the weight of Simone Biles-esque expectations on his shoulders.
Like Biles for the women, Uchimura is already among those discussed as the "greatest male gymnast in history," and he'll be looking to continue a run that's seen him with six straight world all-around titles in addition to gold at the 2012 London Olympics.
In fact, unless the unthinkable occurs, the question he's most likely to face after the competition is whether he anticipates staying around long enough for the 2020 Games in Tokyo.
You Hao, China
It's the first Olympics go-round for 24-year-old Chinese athlete You Hao, but you probably won't know it based on what he's likely to accomplish over the next few weeks.
He was a bronze medalist on the rings at the 2014 World Championships and upped his output to a silver on the rings and a gold on the parallel bars by the time the 2015 world meet arrived.
With another year of international prowess under his belt, the guess here is that he'll capture golds in both events and compete with Japan's Uchimura for acclaim as the Olympic meet's top performer.
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