Olympics 2012: Zonderland flies away with horizontal bar gold

Dutchman Epke Zonderland showed off a flamboyant gravity-defying routine to snatch the Olympics horizontal bar title on Tuesday.

Zou Kai had been the favourite to win the gold medal as China had won every Olympic and world title on the apparatus since 2008 but he was easily surpassed by a flying Dutchman who showed no fear as he pulled off three back-to-back release manoeuvres to whip the crowd into a frenzy.

Zonderland triumphed with 16.533 points and German showman Fabian Hambuchen, who thought he had bagged the title with his high-flying performance, had to make do with silver on 16.400.

Zou, the 2008 champion who had been hoping to give China a third gymnastics gold on Tuesday following successes on the parallel bars and balance beam, took the bronze.