Japan celebrated winning Olympic gold in the artisitic gymnastics team event, while China had to settle for bronze, Russia having found space between the Asian nations to claim the silver, its first medal in the event for 16 years.

Though Brazil was at times in contention for a third-place finish, vying with the British, a medal would have come as a surprise. The home nation is, in truth, some way off the summit of the sport, but sixth place is already a historic achievement.

Russia gymnast Ivan Stretovich in the team final (Photo: Getty Images/Matthias Hangst)

Japan’s Kohei Uchimura provided the inspiration and lead by example for his team's victory. At 27, he is widely considered to be the world’s best gymnast, having won ten world championships and six Olympic medals, including gold in the all-around at London 2012, a title that followed his silver at Beijing 2012. He also took the floor silver at London, and holds another two silver medals in team events, also at Beijing and London.

With a broad smile on his face, Uchimura praised the “fantastic crowd”, who were happy to cheer for countries other than the host nation, even when mistakes were made. “I feel very good competing here,” he added.

"Winning gold at the Olympics is incredibly difficult, that is what I realised," he continued. "Given that it's the Olympics, I feel great satisfaction getting the gold medal."

Uchimura in action for Japan at Rio 2016 (Photo: Getty Images/Alex Livesey)

If China were disappointed to take the bronze, it fell to Zhang Chenglong to sum up a nation’s feelings: “For us, the team medal is the most important of all. It’s the most representative and the most valuable, because gymnastics is a team effort.”

The Russians, meanwhile, were overjoyed to have won the medal that had eluded them for the past 16 years (having won a bronze at Sydney 2000), while for Brazil, sixth place was also reason to celebrate.

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