While gymnast Daiki Hashimoto cemented his place as one of the sport¡¯s new stars on Tuesday with his gold medal-winning performance on the horizontal bar, it¡¯s the first gold he won at the Tokyo Olympics that may leave a more lasting legacy on the sport and its fandom.
The Games are no stranger to controversy ¡ª especially when a judge¡¯s decision is the final difference between gold and silver ¡ª but the furor surrounding Hashimoto¡¯s first-place finish in the men¡¯s all-around competition last week stood out not only for its intensity, but for the response it provoked from International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) officials.
Chinese netizens¡¯ reaction to Hashimoto¡¯s 0.4-points victory over China¡¯s Xiao Ruoteng, including thousands of abusive messages directed at the 19-year-old gymnast and FIG on social media, prompted the federation to take the unusual step of explaining the deductions and penalties assigned to Hashimoto after a botched dismount on his vault caused him to step off the mat.
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