In the last quadrennial, I’d say the biggest shocker was Taiwan qualifying a full team to the Tokyo Olympics in Men’s Gymnastics.
In Liverpool, without question the biggest surprise was a team from Japan of relative unknowns.
In the qualifications, Japan had the highest team Beam score: 3rd (Shoko Miyata), 5th (Hazuki Watanabe), and 7th (Ayaka Sakaguchi).
And they didn’t compete the reigning World Champion on Beam, Urara Ashikawa.
In the team final, heading to the final apparatus, it looked like Japan would finish 3rd — automatic qualification to Paris.
The wheels finally fell off on Bars. Canada took the bronze team medal. Winning it on Beam.
Canada’s first team medal at Worlds was the 2nd biggest surprise in Liverpool.
Read more about Japan’s miracle meet on The Medal Count:
