Oyama Takes Bronze in Barcelona

NORMAN – Former University of Oklahoma men's gymnastics team member Kanji Oyama finished third at the 2016 Joaquim Blume Memorial All-Around meet in Barcelona, Spain, on Saturday to take the bronze medal.

"It's pretty awesome that in his first international meet he was the bronze medalist. Pretty impressive.”
- Head Coach Mark Williams

“I'm very happy for Kanji," Oklahoma head coach Mark Williams said. "He had a good day. Taqiy was able to be there as his coach and they had a good experience. It's pretty awesome that in his first international meet he was the bronze medalist. Pretty impressive.”

The former Sooner went 6-for-6, hitting his routine on all six events in the meet, and finished behind Nikita Nagornyy of Russia and Ruben Lopez of host nation Spain. Nagornyy was a member of the Russian team that took silver in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro this summer.

Oyama earned his place on the U.S. Senior Men's National Team with a 14^th-place finish in the all-around at the 2016 P&G Championships. That performance earned him a place on the 18-man team and gave him the opportunity to compete at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials. Saturday's meet will mark Oyama's first competition for the team.

The Huntington Beach, Calif., native helped lead Oklahoma to back-to-back undefeated national championships in 2015 and 2016 and was a seven-time All-American during his time at OU. He won the MPSF Conference title on vault in three consecutive years (2014, 2015 and 2016) and finished tied for second in the all-around at the 2016 NCAA Championships as a senior.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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