By Chang-Ran Kim
PARIS (Reuters) -China’s Zou Jingyuan handily beat his rivals to retain the Olympic parallel bars title on Monday, picking up his third medal of the Paris Games and giving his country a second gold in gymnastics.
The 26-year-old, nicknamed ‘king of parallel bars’ for his dominance on the apparatus, earned a staggering 16.200 points, head and shoulders above the rest.
Illia Kovtun took silver with 15.500, earning Ukraine theirfirst podium finish in the sport in Paris. Japan’s Shinnosuke Oka, who won gold in the team and all-around events, took the bronze with 15.300.
During a masterful routine, Zou kept his arms and legs fully extended and steady as a rock and he drew applause from Kovtun every time he nailed a difficult move.
After sticking his dismount, the three-times parallel bars world champion pumped his arms in the air, smiling broadly and embracing his teammate Zhang Boheng, who came in fourth.
(Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim, Rory Carroll, Karen Braun and Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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