Liu Yang clinched China's first men's gymnastics gold of the Paris Olympics Sunday, delivering a formidable display of strength and skill to retain the rings title he won in Tokyo.
Liu, a two-time world champion on the apparatus, scored 15.300 points to lead a Chinese one-two ahead of silver medallist Zou Jingyuan, with Greece's 2016 Olympic champion Eleftherios Petrounias taking bronze.
It took some - but not all - of the sting out of China's agonizing silver-medal finish behind Japan in the men's team competition.
"To be honest, I have mixed feelings," Liu said.
"Even though I'm very happy for myself with the gold, I still haven't got over the fact that we lost the gold medal in the team final. That is still hard for me."
China came agonizingly close to team gold Monday, but their miscues on the final apparatus opened the door for Japan, who came through to seize the victory.
Japan's Shinnosuke Oka then beat Zhang Boheng and Xiao Ruoteng to gold in the all-around.
Liu said he'd tried to shake off his disappointment by sticking to his planned routines since Monday.
"I'm a very organized person," he said.
"I make plans and execute them, so I followed the schedule I made for myself the last few days.
"That helped me to recover from the result in the team final to take a gold here."
Known for his strength elements, Liu did not disappoint, with the crowd at Bercy Arena applauding as he gave a little lift of his chin during his iron cross.
A small hop on his double-somersault, double-twist dismount proved immaterial as Liu seized the lead from Zou, who had opened the competition with a routine that garnered 15.233 points.
Zou said the shoulder discomfort that troubled him in the team final had abated, but he was pleased to turn in a stronger rings performance than he did in qualifying.
"Rings, parallel bars and pommel horse are my strengths, but injuries have caused problems in these events," he said.
"This year, especially in the second half, I've faced injuries again. The injury to my right shoulder definitely affects my training."
Nevertheless, he was already looking ahead to another medal chance in parallel bars Monday.
"Today felt a bit rushed, so I hope to enjoy the experience better tomorrow," the 26-year old said.
"The Olympic Games are about savoring each competition."
Tense wait
Petrounias - who added bronze in Tokyo to the gold he won in Rio - put himself in bronze medal position with a score of 15.100 on the third routine of the day.
That proved enough to make the podium as France's Samir Ait Said came up just short in his quest for a medal to mark his return from a horrific broken leg suffered in vault qualifying in Rio de Janeiro.
Greeted by a massive ovation and cheered throughout his routine, Said scored 15.000 points to finish just out of the medals.
Petrounias said he was sorry he could not have his good friend Said on the podium with him, but he was delighted to become the first man with three Olympic medals on rings.
He had a tense wait to see if his score would hold up for a podium place.
"When I saw 15.100, it became really a long final," he said after watching five other gymnasts fail to better his mark.
"If it was 15.200, (bronze) would be more secure, but with 15.100 the time I was waiting became a nightmare."