Petrounias Fights His Way to Rings Final, Eyes Historic Third Olympic Medal

After a stressful qualification round, Greek rings star Lefteris Petrounias secured his spot in the men’s rings final at the Tokyo Olympics, keeping his dream of a historic third Olympic medal alive. Petrounias, visibly concerned after a performance that didn’t meet his own high standards, took to Instagram late Sunday night to express his relief and determination.

“Today was a day about which I can say a lot, but now is not the time! I will only say that I am in the final of the Olympic Games for the 3rd time in my life and of course August 4th will be a different day than today! Let’s go to Greece!”

The reigning Olympic champion had to wait anxiously for the final scores after a less-than-perfect routine. His score of 14.800 was just enough to secure him the 6th qualifying spot for the final.

Among those watching Petrounias’ performance with bated breath were Greek long jump champion Miltiadis Tentoglou and his wife, Mareva.

Petrounias will face stiff competition in the final, including top qualifier Liu Yang and fellow countryman You Hao, both from China.

The eight finalists for the men’s rings final are:

Zou Jingyuan (China) 15.300 Liu Yang (China) 15.233 Samir Aït Saïd (France) 14.966 Glen Cuyle (Belgium) 14.900 Adem Asil (Turkey) 14.866 Lefteris Petrounias (Greece) 14.800 Vahagn Davtyan (Armenia) 14.733 Harry Hepworth (Great Britain) 14.700 Can Petrounias overcome the pressure and make history by becoming the first gymnast to win three Olympic gold medals on the rings? All eyes will be on him on August 4th.