Dauser is a little early, frustrated, and leaves Olympia for good.
Olympic champion on the parallel bars, Lukas Dauser, failed to win a medal at the Games in Paris. Forty-four days after tearing a muscle bundle in his right bicep, the 31-year-old turned in a high-level final but made mistakes, finishing seventh.
Lukas Dauser's face showed his disappointment as he left the Paris podium, having missed his hoped-for Olympic medal on the parallel bars. In the final, he scored 13.700 points on his specialty apparatus, which was only enough for seventh place.
"I don't like stories without a happy ending, but I have to swallow the pill. I'm still proud to have been here," Dauser told ZDF. He didn't want to blame his injury. "The bicep wasn't the reason why it went wrong. The reason was rather that I couldn't do as many exercises as I wanted to beforehand. I lacked a bit of routine."
The Chinese gymnast Zou Jingyuan, who scored 16.200 points, crowned himself Olympic champion in the Bercy Arena in Paris. Silver went to Ukraine's Ilja Kowtun (15.500), while Japan's Shinnosuke Oka secured the bronze medal with 15.300 points.
"Shit"
Dauser performed a flawed routine on the Bercy podium, touching the bar too early and having to correct himself once. A small hop after landing cost him the dreamt-of medal. Additionally, his difficulty score of 6.0 points was not enough to contend for a medal. With a pained smile, he waited for his score, then muttered audibly: "Shit."
Fabian Hambüchen, speaking on Eurosport, called it a "crazy final. Too bad for Lukas. He risked everything, gave everything, and can't blame himself. The fight he put up in the last six weeks is unique. He didn't let himself hang for a second, was always fully focused. Crazy," said the Rio reck Olympic champion. Even the bandage Dauser borrowed from Hambüchen for the Paris competition didn't help.
Last Olympic competition
Before the final, he had entered the arena confidently, waving to the audience while staying focused. "These are the best eight gymnasts in the world," he had said beforehand. "Everyone can do their routine. It's about who can perform it best." Dauser, who had placed fifth in the qualification with 15.116 points, couldn't do it in the final.
Dauser had won the world title on the parallel bars last year, but had to suffer a setback in late June when he injured his right upper arm during the national Olympic trials. It was uncertain whether the Bavarian, who had won Olympic silver on the apparatus in Tokyo 2021, would be able to participate in the Games. Dauser couldn't implement the originally planned increase in difficulty due to his injury.
Dauser's parallel bars performance in Paris was his last Olympic competition. He won't be competing at the Olympics again in 2028. He said so in the ZDF interview. Whether it might also be his last international competition remains open. "I will make a decision at the end of the year," Dauser said.
Despite his victory as an Olympic champion in the previous Games, Lukas Dauser fell short of a medal on the parallel bars in Paris. In a deeply disappointed state, he expressed his feelings after the final by saying, "Shit."
In the upcoming 2028 Olympics, Lukas Dauser won't be competing in the parallel bars again, as this performance marked his last Olympic competition.
