It’s getting individual around here. (Already? WHY????) With the team competitions in the books, we move on to Kohei-chella, the chance for Kohei to win his second Olympic title and 80 billionth all-around title while the rest of us go, “Is this the year such-and-such finally dethrones Kohei?” and then it absolutely isn’t.

That said, is this the year Oleg finally dethrones Kohei? We’ll find out soon enough.

Group 1 (floor): Verniaiev, Uchimura, Belyavskiy, Deng, Wilson, Kato
Group 2 (horse): Mikulak, Sasaki, Kuksenkov, Lin, Nory, Whitlock
Group 3 (rings): Calvo, Deurloo, Larduet, Likhovitskiy, Brooks, Stepko
Group 4 (vault): Braegger, Nguyen, Augis, Bretschneider, Yusof, Georgiou

Dammit, how’s a person supposed to prioritize stream windows with a gymnast distribution like this? The first three all have critical athletes to watch, and the fourth has critical skill, tattoo, and earring news that must be aggressively monitored.

I love that Horton is profiling Chris Brooks with his medal contenders. You’re a broadcaster now. You can’t just talk about your friends.

Bart Deurloo, Marcel Nguyen, and Oleg Stepko are really tight in the tattoo standings coming into today. Anyone’s game.

Jon’s like, “No, David Belyavskiy is not consistent…”

Rotation 1:

#Koheisgianttrackpants

We start with Nile on floor. front 2.5, a little low chest – solid double double – just stays in bounds at his roll out – strong landings overall, not the smoothest in his Japanese handstands – 2.5 to front tuck full – 3/1, small hop. 14.900.

Arthur Nory’s horse is emotionally upsetting for all of us, doesn’t stop him from smiling.

14.633 from Brooks on rings. On track with what he has been doing.

Deng – FX – 2.5 to full, slightly uncontrolled, nearly spins himself OOB, low landing on second pass, some bouncing around – hop back on double double low – “pretty good stuff” Jon says who has not been watching and just fangirling about Chris. Hits 3/1. 14.966.

CRAPIT Nikolai. He was going very well through horse but got stuck on a flare, paused, and couldn’t save it.

Belyavskiy landing better than some of his earlier floors. More secure landings, smaller hops. 15.000.

Manrique goes 15.133 on rings. Top score so far.

Kohei – FX – 3.5 to 1.5 obviously insane twisting form – hop – just a couple early bounces but small ones, excellent throughout, nearly sticks double double – sticks 3/1. 15.766. You know. Kohei.

I don’t like leos that say the name of the country on them. Too on the nose. Like wearing a Disneyland shirt to Disneyland.

Moment of truth for whether we’re watching Mikulak today – endured? Endured. 14.6.

Oleg – FX – 3.5 to tuck full, larger bound – short on front 2.5, hop – 2.5 to 1.5  OK- flares – hop back on 3/1. Hit, but would have needed some more controlled landings. 15.033.

Whitlock – PH, exceptional as always. 15.875.

Kato – FX – 3.5 to 1/2, stuck – that one-inch amplitude middle pass, hop – front 2/1 a little short with a hop back – 15.266.

After 1: Whitlock, Uchimura, Kato, Larduet, Yusof.

No surprises there with Whitlock leading after horse. Kohei and Oleg both improve two tenths from the first day. Belyavskiy improves four tenths. Mikulak improves by 1.5. Because pommel horse.

In rotation 2, our main gymnasts are on horse and rings.

Deng starts on PH – 14.533. Jon is eagle-eying some deductions. Like the main NBC group never would. And Courtney is asking questions that aren’t stupid.

Manrique – VT – handspring 2.5 and flies backward and sits it. 14.000.

Belyavskiy does have a leggy leg moment on his horsey horse routine, so it won’t be his normal score, but he stayed on.

Kupets is one of us. Spotting Khorkina left and right.

Uchimura on horse – 14.900. No mistakes there. He is bringing it all over the place today. That won’t hurt him.

Jon telling an old story about scoring a 1.9 on horse. I’ll refrain from any jokes.

Olegs on horse – pulled back his flare elements with a small hesitation but keeps it going well – nothing significant – legs together, good rhythm, will be a big score. 15.533

Mikulak 14.366 on rings.

Oleg one tenth behind Kohei. Brooks it tied for fourth. Let him have this. Oleg will expect to move ahead after rings.

They’re making Whitlock do rings, like mean jerks – He actually does some of the best rings I’ve seen from him – very smooth holding those handstands – double double step back. 14.733. Horton tells us it will be a 14.1-14.2. Uh oh.

Wilson – PH – doesn’t have British swing or extension – some leg breaks – 14.066.

After 2:
1. Uchimura 30.666
2. Whitlock 30.608
3. Verniaiev 30.566
4. Kato 30.166
5. Yusof 29.999

Next group is Belyavskiy, Lin, Nguyen, Brooks, Deng. Larduet 15th, Mikulak and Wilson 18th.

Lead groups heads to rings and vault.

Kuksenkov does a Shewfelt, small step forward – strong.

Sasaki does a Drag, good, lands only slightly potato-shaped with a hop back, but comfortably around.

Kohei ringing it. Mikulak vaulting it. ooooooooof. Kas 2/1, nearly falls, knees very close to being down. Large lunge forward. 14.566.

I think Jon might not know the difference between north and south Korea.

Looks like Larduet has scratched the rest of the meet. Ankle injury we’re hearing.

Nguyen – HB – tak to kovacs – cassina with epke legs – hop on DLO 1/1 – 14.466.

Whitlock – VT – gets his 3/1 around with very good chest height and position, a backward Shawn Johnson step. 15.133.

Oleg sticks double twisting double rings dismount! 15.300. That will put him in first, nearly a half point ahead of Kohei. A handshake from Kohei because of Kohei.

Kato also being forced to do rings. I do like rings saltos, which is what you do when crosses make your porcelain face sad.

Lin Chaopan 14.966 vault.

Brooks – PB – late on a full piro – not quite secure on his tippelt, hop on double front – 15.066. Went 15.3 in qualification.

Nile still has to turn purple on rings – good security in his holds – one short handstand toward the end – hop back on dismount.

Why do so many people still have to go on rings? Pull your pace together.

Not sure why Georgiou is continuing. He looked injured after vault, more injured after Pbars, and then still tried to do HBar and got a 9.

Deng’s rings 14.433

To Yusof on HB – leg break on a tak into layout tkatchev – a lack of overall difficulty here means it won’t be a huge huge score, but he finishes with layout double double with a step. 14.533.

Bretschneider did try the Bretscheider II but did not catch it – one hand on but no chance to actually hold it. Not going to happen for him. Maybe one of these days.

After 3 it’s Verniaiev, just ahead of Whitlock, just ahead of Uchimura! EEEEE!

After 3:
1. Verniaiev 45.866
2. Whitlock 45.741
3. Uchimura 45.399
4. Kato 44.732
5. Calvo 44.632
5. Brooks 44.632

Kohei with a casual 15.566 on vault to begin. ro half on 2.5 – smallest hop back, good direction.

Verniaiev VT – STUCK DRAGULESCU. That works. 15.500. The header image pretty much sums that one up.

Kato – Kato goes for the Kas 2/1, with some real Nabieva legs – step to the side – MAG vault E scoring may be even worse than WAG. 15.058.

Nile – VT – Las 1.5, a little legs, hop forward. 15.000. Spo that also gets a 9.4 E score? I do not comprehend.

15.766 for Mikulak on PBars – one of his very good ones – extremely precise and clean – very comfortable handstands – sticks double front half out.

Deng VT – also Kas 2/1 – good control, step back –

Whitlock – HB – double back, strong saltos – precise tippelt – step back on dismount – fine . 15.000, will drop down to third. Quite a bit behind Verniaiev now, but he should maintain an edge over the peloton.

So Stepko just got a 10 on HB. That happened.

Nory with a hop back on his full-smiling double pike.

Brooks – HB – layout tkatchev to tkatchev to mixed – one short hs – layout tkatchev 1/2 is nice – this is one of his good ones as well – double double layout, holds the stick with a big squat. 15.200. He’ll take that no question. Good enough for 4th for the moment.

Lin Chaopan just nailed a double pike PBars dismount. He’s quietly remaining in this. In spite of being that one no one talks about. 15.666. Moves into 4th ahead of Brooks.

After 4:
1. Verniaiev 61.366
2. Uchimura 60.965
3. Whitlock 60.741
4. Lin 60.198
5. Brooks 59.832

Then it’s Kato, Calvo, Belyavskiy, Braegger, and Sasaki. Mikulak stays down at 11th, not able to recover from that vault.

Kuksenkov 15.233 on PB but he remains way down after that horse fall in the first rotation.

So so so. Oleg has 4 tenths, but really should extend that lead on PBs. Kohei will be the better gymnast on HB by a margin, but Oleg is capable of keeping himself far enough ahead after PB that he could potentially hold on.

Mikulak has to start this group on HB – Kolman is fine – 1.5 with minor legs – GREAT full turn finish position – tkatchev 1/2 – tak – tkatchev and swings out – hop for a little wonky – stucks double double layout. Where was this Sam on vault? Sam had to make a mistake and feel out of it to relax and hit? 15.133.

Oleg – PB – good first hs – to one rail, quite strong in the full – that floaty tippelt, not quite as floaty today but still good – double front 1/2, two steps back – still gets 16.100 with two steps back on dismount.

Whitlock – HB – later on his piroettes and more piked on his layout releases – some insane legs throughout – hop back on double double layout. Survived. Still manages a 14.700.

Kato’s 14.9 on PB will keep him within sight of Whitlock.

Brooks – FX – he did very well on his good events, but he’s ending on the bad ones. front double pike with a hoppy hop – short of handstand on his Japanese – otherwise pretty strong, some hops – small slide on 2.5. 14.600.

Lin Chaopan’s layout jaeger is lovely – 15.166. Up ahead of Kato. Just a tenth behind Whitlock. But then Whitlock is exceptional on floor.

Nile goes 15.700 on PB! Up ahead of Brooks and Mikulak.

Deng Shudi excellent double pike stuck. 15.966. Just behind Lin. Ahead of Kato.

Well now. Belyavskiy just stuck a doubel front 1/2 off PBars – 15.933 for him, and now HE goes ahead of Lin and into third. There is exactly nothing separating Whitlock, Belyavskiy, Lin, and Deng going into the final event. I still like Whitlock in that race because he’s going to floor.

Kohei on PB – they’ve been throwing out the high 15s – wonderful double pike – strong verticals in hs – one muscle up in there – short double pike with a .3 hop forward. 15.600. He has given Oleg the margin Oleg wanted. Oleg has nine tenths going to HB.

After 5:
1. Verniaiev 77.466
2. Uchimura 76.565
3. Whitlock 75.441
4. Belyavskiy 75.365
5. Lin 75.364
6. Deng 75.164
7. Kato  74.690
8. Wilson 74.599
9. Brooks 74.432
10. Mikulak 74.431

Kohei is capable of high 15s here for sure. Oleg will be just desperately hoping to break 15. Well, he’ll be hoping to hit, but if he can break 15 like he did in qualification, then it’s a thing.

Whitlock has to start on floor in the final rotation, which will set the tone for the bronze race.

Whitlock – FX – sticks opening front 2.5 – 3.5 to a wonk-a-thon full, just barely pulls it around to his feet – better landings on his other twisting passes, awkward on his rollout – small hop on 3/1. It’s still a 15.2. Not what he could have scored, but that will be tough for the other bronzers to beat on their events.

It’s a 90.641 for Max. Great result. Kato had a great one going, got through all his difficult releases and then fell right at the end. He was in the second group anyway, but now he’ll be way down.

13.200 for Brooks on PH. Brooks on PH.

Jon gives Kato “other than the fall” treatment.

Nory gets 15.133 on floor! What a ball of sunshine.

Lin needs a big floor score here – looked like he just went OOB or close to on his opening pass with a  stumble – low double double with a hop – a couple stumbles creeping in here – pause to breathe before a forward roll, minus a million – hop back on 3/1 with some crazy legs. Shouldn’t match Whitlock. Good, but not quite there. 14.866.

Nile finishes with 14.966 on HB.

In behind Lin. 89.565

Deng – HB – layout tkatchev to mixed – stalder rybalko with normal stalder rybalko legs – some very late turning skills – layout double double, stick with a pretty big swim. 14.966.

Max Whitlock looks the usual amount of vomit/crying. Belyavskiy – HB – layout tkatchev – tkatchev half – holds onto layout full dismount with a squat back. 15.133. DAMNNN where did that score come from? In behind Whitlock, but the judges were sure trying. Very clean routine, though.

Whitlock will get third it appears!

Uchimura – HB – huge piked and caught – catches cassina – almost arched on a tak – good kolman – very strong, thiswill be a huge score – nailed it. stuck landing. 15.800. That means Oleg does not need a full 15.

Sam finishes floor with 15.200. Looks like he’ll finish 7th. If not for vault…

Oleg for the final routine. Needs around a 14.900 for this.

Oleg – HB – piked tkatchev to mixed – tlaktchev 1/2 – just holds that tak full, a bit crazy – one pauses in these after a stalder – double double layout – HOP FORWARD. Oooooh that was a big hop! Did it cost him the gold? Remarkable performance regardless.

14.800. A tenth behind Kohei.

Well.

Sad.

So much sad.

We’ll be talking about this one for a while.

Or we would if it were women’s.

So that’s it.

Gold for Kohei, silver for Oleg, bronze for Max. Whistles fromt eh crowd. 4th for Belyavskiy. Brooks ended up 14th. A good result for him.

Oh, sad Oleg smiling. And the classy hugging.

Oleg was a stick away from being Olympic champion, though there’s nothing wrong with being the valiant silver medalist who stole the world’s hearts.

Amazing final! Now watch NBC show 11 minutes of it tonight because of NO AMERICAN MEDALS.