?Who Will Win?: Despite Stunning Olympic Qualification, America Becomes the Underdog for World Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2023

Since the commencement of the highly anticipated World Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2023 last week, the burning question on every enthusiast’s mind is: Who shall emerge victorious? This curiosity was further heightened after the powerhouse of a team that is the USA Men’s, weren’t the first choices of many athletes. Despite earning a much-deserved spot at the 2024 Olympics, the current situation has turned the men’s team into the underdogs of the Worlds Championship.

A recent social media reel shared snippets of several responses, when asked of the potential winner of the championship this time. Evidently, the USA hardly made the list, while many other teams ranking way below the American team were speculated to win, not by the fans, but by the athletes themselves.

U.S. Men’s WAC team faces irony

The answer to the question shall become clearer as Day 3 of the Championship unfolds in Antwerp, Belgium today. The Men’s qualifiers on September 30, 2023, showcased Japan’s dominance in most events. A recent Instagram reel by the Instagram handle, @Antwerp2023 was captioned, “Who will win this evening?s men?s team final??”. It asked a few athletes about their predictions for the Men’s team final. Surprisingly, the responses, overwhelmingly, leaned towards Japan, with a few mentioning the reigning team, China. Despite the USA’s historical feats and their second-place position on the first day, anyone barely predicted a victory for them.

According to Olympics.com, Japan secured the top spot in the team standings after all six men’s qualifying sessions, aiming for their first world team title since 2015. Their total score of 258.228 outshone the USA (254.628), with Great Britain closely trailing in third (254.193). Reigning champions, the People’s Republic of China, currently lie seventh (248.163), with Zhang Boheng opting to compete in the Asian Games.

The National Olympic Committees (NOC) of different nations secured five-man team quota spots for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, including the United States, Canada, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Turkey, the Netherlands, and Ukraine. Whereas, China, Japan, and Britain secured their quota spots through last year’s World Men’s Team final medals.

What about the rest of the positions?

There are some countries left that earned their quota spots. For instance, Brazil successfully grabbed the 13th position, the Republic of Korea got 14th and Belgium secured the 15th spot.

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Additionally, individual quota spots were clinched by Milad Karimi of Kazakhstan, Artur Dolgopyat of Israel, and Artur Davtyan of Armenia. With this, some more names were added,? Kristofer Meszaros of Hungary, Lee Junho of Korea, Diogo Soares of Brazil, Luka van den Keybus of Belgium, & Andrei Muntean of Romania.

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It’s crucial to note that the participation of these athletes in the Paris Games hinges on their National Olympic Committees selecting them to represent their respective countries at Paris 2024, as NOCs hold exclusive authority over Olympic Games representation.