Olympic Men's Gymnastics 2016: Parallel Bars Medal Winners, Scores and Results
Oleg Verniaiev walked away heartbroken in the men's all-around after falling a tenth of a point shy of winning gold. He made sure to leave no doubt in the parallel bars Tuesday at the 2016 Rio Games.
The Ukrainian earned a score of 16.041 in his routine, capturing the gold by 0.141 points over American Danell Leyva. Verniaiev's routine graded slightly worse than his all-around performance, but he nonetheless wore his favorite title well.
| Gold | Oleg Verniaiev (Ukraine) | 16.041 |
| Silver | Danell Leyva (United States) | 15.900 |
| Bronze | David Belyavskiy (Russia) | 15.783 |
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Legendary Ukrainian pole vaulter Sergey Bubka was on hand to present Verniaiev with his medal, as noted by Dawn Rhodes of the Chicago Tribune:
It was no doubt a special moment for Verniaiev, who seemingly had the all-around gold on his neck before one-hopping his bar dismount. Kohei Uchimura of Japan took advantage of the deduction to win the event by 0.099 points.
Leyva, meanwhile, proved his worth to the U.S. team despite being left off the roster originally. He was a late add in July when John Orozco suffered an ACL injury.
A winner of the 2012 all-around bronze at the London Games, Leyva now has two Olympic medals in as many appearances. He is quietly the most accomplished U.S. male gymnast of the last two Olympic cycles. The 24-year-old was the only American man to take home a medal in London and is the second in Rio de Janeiro, joining Alex Naddour.
His routine didn't have quite the difficulty marks of Verniaiev but had nearly zero flaws, as Leyva proved once again he has a sense of the moment.
David Belyavskiy of Russia earned bronze with a score of 15.783, well behind the two leaders. Deng Shudi of China and Manrique Larduet of Cuba rounded out the top five.
Verniaiev's gold is the first for Ukraine in these Games and its sixth overall medal. The United States remains atop the pack with 81 medals; Leyva's silver was its 26th. Belyavskiy's bronze was the 14th for Russia and its 38th overall medal.
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