Rio 2016: Why did the Ukraine gymnasts give up?
RIO 2016 fans were left stunned when the Ukrainian gymnastics team threw in the towel during the men’s team finals.
Ukraine stunned viewers when they appeared to sabotage the men's team gymnastics final
Ukraine finished last after they failed to send out the correct number of athletes.
In the final, each country sends three athletes to perform on each apparatus – the high bar, parallel bars and floor exercise.
But Ukraine only sent two competitors for two of the rounds, forfeiting any points they could have earned with a third man.
And commentators were left speechless when Maksym Semiankiv sabotaged his own high bar attempt.
Instead of performing a routine, Semiankiv hung onto the bar for a second then dropped and nodded to the judges.
He later pulled a similar stunt on the parallel bars.
Maksym Semiankiv hung onto the high bar for a second and then dropped
He forfeited any points for that round
NBC commentator Andy Thornton suggested the team threw the final on purpose.
“The word we had received is that this was a planned strategy by Ukraine – to not put up all gymnasts in the team final,” he wrote.
And fans of Switzerland – who finished three points behind Ukraine in the qualifying rounds – were outraged.
One tweeted: “I am so mad at Ukraine and so gutted for Switzerland right now.”
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While another wrote: “A second scratch for Ukraine? If I’m the team that qualified ninth I am livid right now.”
Some fans compared the stunt to a scene from the cult movie Stick It – where a gymnastics team boycotts the competition they are competing in.
"Hey Urkaine - this is not Stick It, this is the Olympics. You don't get to intentionally scratch to make a point," Lexi Trumble wrote.
Ukraine's forfeiting is real life Stick It!!! pic.twitter.com/JKMEhTjr08
— Ꭼmilee Murr (@emurr04) August 9, 2016
Ukraine’s Oleg Verniaiev took to Instagram to explain the alleged sabotage, claiming a team member had been injured.
“I would like to personally apologise for the situation in today's team final competition,” he wrote.
“We found out that we wouldn’t be competing as a full team 15 minutes prior to start of the competition when one of our team members came back from the hospital.
Oleg Verniaiev explained why the team threw in the towel
Oleg Verniaiev of Ukraine on the pommel horse at Rio Olympics
“At that point we weren't able to change our line up. I would like to personally apologise to the Switzerland team as well.”
However it has been suggested that Ukraine threw the competition so that they can focus their energy on the individual tournament.
Verniaiev is set to compete in seven solo events including the all-round.