Ukraine's Igor Radivilov performs on the vault during the artistic gymnastics men's qualification at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Photo / AP
Ukraine's Igor Radivilov performs on the vault during the artistic gymnastics men's qualification at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Photo / AP
Gymnastics commentators were stunned on Tuesday during the men's Olympic gymnastics team final when the Ukrainian national team willingly took scores of zero, which ensured a last-place finish.
In the team final, each country sends three athletes to perform on each apparatus - but Ukraine only had two athletes completethe high bar, parallel bars and floor exercise.
Ukraine sent Maksym Semiankiv to the high bar in the middle of the competition - but instead of doing his routine, Semiankiv hung onto the bar for a second, then dropped and nodded to the judges. He took a score of zero, and also scratched in the parallel bars.
Semiankiv didn't appear to be injured, and even if he was, Ukraine could have had another member of its five-man team do a routine in his place.
According to NBC's Andy Thornton, the team planned to throw the competition.
Seeing Ukraine throw away their performances will be especially frustrating for Switzerland, which finished ninth in team qualifying, less than three points behind Ukraine in 7th. Viewers were understandably puzzled.
If this is a strategy from Ukraine it is beyond disrespectful to the Swiss who were 9th after QF, to the sport of gymnastics & the Olympics
Some analysts and fans haved speculated that the team is using the competition in order to prepare for the individual finals. Oleg Verniaiev, 2014 world champion in the parallel bars, is set to compete in four different event finals as well as the individual all-around.
The Ukrainian team heartbreakingly lost its bronze medal four years ago in London after Japan's scoring appeal added to Kohei Uchimura's score and vaulted Japan into second, bumping Ukraine off the podium.
