Russia thought it was headed for its first men’s gymnastics world team title since the breakup of the Soviet Union. Instead, China is back atop the sport for after a two-year hiatus.
Russian Nikita Nagornyy‘s error on high bar on the last rotation of the meet, muscling out of a handstand, handed the Chinese gold by .049 of a point. Russia would have prevailed if Nagornyy repeated his score from last week’s qualifying in Doha.
Nagornyy, a 21-year-old Olympian, has a tattoo on his ribs that says “salvame y guardame,” which roughly translates to “save and protect me” in Spanish and is a common Russian Orthodox phrase.