Rio Olympics 2016: US men's gymnastics 5th as Japan wins gold

RIO DE JANEIRO — For Team USA, the Olympic Games men’s team gymnastics final had a familiar ending.

And begiing.

The U.S., unable to overcome a series of early mistakes, finished fifth with a total score of 268.560 at the Rio Olympic Arena on Monday.

Japan captured the gold medal.

Monday was strikingly similar for the U.S., which won its qualifying group Saturday, to the meltdown the American men had four years ago in London. The U.S. men won their 2012 qualifying group only to slip to fifth in the final.

Monday’s unraveling began in the opening seconds. Alexander Naddour, the first U.S. man up in the floor exercise on the first rotation, fell back on a landing and put a hand out of bounds. He finished with a score of 13.566, more than a point below his qualifying round mark (14.7).

Next up was Sam Mikulak, who had the highest individual floor exercise in qualifying (15.8). But on a tumbling pass, Mikulak landed with both feet out of bounds and took another hop beyond the perimeter. His score was 14.866.

The U.S. finished the opening rotation last in the eight-team competition with a score of 43.757. It was a hole the U.S. could not overcome.

The Americans appeared to turn the corner with some strong routines on the vault on the fourth of six rotations, but actually slipped from fifth to sixth.

A fall by Danell Leyva, the last man up on the high bar, the last rotation, seemed to sum up the U.S. day.