Floor Exercise, Men

The field of contenders for the floor exercise was large in Paris. Eight different men had won medals at World Championships held since Tokyo 2020, with two gymnasts standing out. One was Israel’s Artem Dolgopyat, who had won in Tokyo to become Israel’s first gymnastics champion ever (and second ever Olympic champion), and he was also the 2023 World Champion. Also considered highly was 2019 World Champion Carlos Yulo of the Philippines, who had fallen in qualifying in Tokyo.

Britain’s Jake Jarman led qualifying with a score of 14.966. That score was matched by Dolgopyat in the final, who was the second one up, while third up was Yulo. With a higher difficulty than the Israeli and sticking the landing on his triple-twist dismount, he moved ahead to 15.000. Yulo then watched Jarman perform an equally difficult exercise, which was rewarded with a 14.933 score, which ended up good enough for bronze.

Yulo’s gold medal was the first ever gymnastics medal for the Philippines at the Olympics, and only the second in any sport after Hidilyn Diaz, who won weightlifting gold in Tokyo. Yulo would later add another gold in the vault. Jarman, though competing for Great Britain, added to the Filipino flavor in the event, as Jarman’s mother is from there as well, and Jarman lived in the Asian country as a child.