All guts, no glory

Along with records broken and medals celebrated, competing at the Olympics is more often littered with narrow defeats, last-gasp errors and mental meltdowns that build true character and sportsmanship.

Chinese athletes, as much as they strive to win, have had to learn the hard way, and perhaps the only way, in Paris that it's not just about wins and losses, but more about wins and lessons, as they draw strength from setbacks to come back stronger at the next try.

The Chinese men's gymnastics squad was the latest to fall foul of the suffocating mental grind on the Olympic stage, after an error-laden performance on the last apparatus in Monday's team final cost it dearly in its quest for gold.

After completing the first five events with almost flawless routines, the Chinese squad seemed almost certain to regain the men's team Olympic gold medal, entering the sixth and last apparatus, the horizontal bar, with a commanding 3.267-point lead over Japan.

Yet, with plenty of room for error, two of three Chinese gymnasts crumbled under the intense pressure of "almost there" — first veteran Xiao Ruoteng landing on his knees, followed by young substitute Su Weide falling twice off the bar. The sudden errors, that drew deep sighs across the Bercy Arena, threw Team China out of the driver's seat in a blink of an eye, allowing archrival Japan to come back in the last minute and secure the coveted team title.

The wild Japanese celebration soon took over the southern Paris arena, leaving Team China ruing the wasted effort of the first two hours and 15 minutes of the final, and the past three years of preparation, through tears of silver.

"It was a big and tough lesson learned for me today. I feel so bad that I failed my teammates, wasting the whole team's hard work and sacrifice," Su, who replaced injured teammate Sun Wei before the Games, said remorsefully at the post-final news conference.

"I am really struggling inside now, I can't think about my next step or how to improve from this yet."

Perhaps for Su, and any other Olympic debutant, there's no way that the strength needed to withstand such a brutal mental blow can be developed in training, but only forged by failure on the biggest stage.

In a similar fashion, in Tokyo three years ago, it was Japan that fell to Russia's extraordinary execution in the final rotation, losing the team gold by the narrowest margin in Olympic history — 0.103 points — at its home Games.

"We have to move on, though. We should leave this behind and focus on preparing for the individual events," said veteran Liu Yang, who will defend his men's rings gold medal on Sunday.

Hot water in the pool

Joining the men's gymnasts in suffering similar Olympic ordeals this year are some of China's best swimmers, namely defending Olympic champion Zhang Yufei and three-time world champion Qin Haiyang, who both missed out on gold in their first respective final sessions in Paris.

After being beaten to silver by just 0.05 seconds three years ago in Tokyo, Zhang had to come to terms with a second narrow defeat in an Olympic 100m butterfly final, won by Torri Huske of the United States on Sunday, after having tried so hard and proved what was possible with a world championships title last year.

Huske's compatriot and world record holder Gretchen Walsh won silver in 100m.

The challenges Zhang has dealt with, other than her surging opponents in the pool, involved repeated doping tests — as many as four times a day prior to the Games — which had apparently thrown her off her regular pace and routine.

In the lead-up to Paris, some Western media organizations published sensationalized reports about a proven food contamination incident in early 2021 that involved 23 Chinese swimmers, including Zhang.

The groundless allegations resulted in a high-frequency testing program targeting Chinese swimmers, despite the fact they had all been cleared of any wrongdoing by several investigations and reviews by international authorities, severely disrupting their final preparations en route to Paris.

Zhang, however, refused to make any excuses, only vowed to regroup and refocus on defending her 200m title, and perhaps, try the 100m a third time at the next Games in 2028.

"I just hope I can have another chance, after I readjust myself and improve my level, to compete against these two great rivals again to the best of my ability," said Zhang, who will also compete in the women's 50m freestyle in Paris.

As composed and positive as Zhang appeared after the race on Sunday, the Chinese star couldn't hold back her emotions at last, weeping while waving to fans applauding her from the stands, showing a glimpse of the huge pressure on her shoulders in the buildup to the Paris Games.

Zhang had expressed concerns about the doping allegations in an earlier interview, stating that the irresponsible accusations could have soured her relationship with some of her competitors, potentially turning healthy competition into hostility.

This explained why she smiled so brightly, apparently with a sense of relief, after both Huske and Walsh invited Zhang to share the top step of the podium to take group photos together.

"It was kind of heart-warming that they did embrace me on the podium," said a smiling Zhang at the post-final news conference.

"Hopefully, I can have the chance to participate in the next Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028," she said.

For three-time men's breaststroke world champion Qin, his main takeaway from a disappointing 100m final, where he fell from hitting the turn first to an eventual seventh place finish, was to keep improving his mental game.

Qin, the 2023 world champion and world record holder in the 200m breaststroke, and considered one of the favorites for gold, failed to qualify for the final with a time of 2 min 09.96 sec in his semifinal, 1.85sec behind the fastest qualifier Leon Marchand of France.

"I was solid in training, but I don't know what went wrong today. My first 50m was as fast as expected, but somehow I messed up with my pace in the second split. I feel like I wasn't mentally focused enough to pull it off," said Qin after the final.