Japanese gymnasts at the Paris Olympics are set to face the challenge of performing with equipment made by a different manufacturer than what they are used to using.
Japanese tournaments often use equipment made by domestic firm Senoh, while the Paris Games will use equipment made by France's Gymnova. While both types meet the International Gymnastics Federation's standards, they use different materials and structures, so Japanese athletes will need to adjust to the Gymnova equipment when they perform at the Paris Games.
There are marked differences in the structures for fixing the bars, in particular, between horizontal and uneven bars made by the two companies. While the Senoh bars are fixed in a way that makes them bend easily in all directions, the structure adopted by Gymnova limits the bars' forward and backward bends.