An Olympic gymnast apologized and said he was 'ashamed' for only winning bronze at the Tokyo Games

• Nikita Nagornyy won a bronze medal in the men's individual all-around Olympic final.
• The Russian athlete was angry with his performance and apologized for not doing better.
• The 24-year-old also helped Russian athletes win gold in the men's team final.

Olympic gymnast Nikita Nagornyy, of the Russian Olympic Committee, has apologized and said he's "ashamed" for only winning bronze at the ongoing Tokyo Games.

One of the best artistic gymnasts in the world, Nagornyy has been a gold medal magnet at the Youth Olympic Games, European Championships, and the World Championships for seven years.

Nagornyy claimed bronze in the individual all-around Olympic final with a score of 88.031, trailing Xiao Ruoteng of China whose performance earned an 88.065 score, and Japanese gold medalist Daiki Hashimoto who banked 88.465 points.

The 24-year-old said he was disappointed not to have done better when he reflected on the podium finish.

"I apologize," Nagornyy told the Russian news agency Tass. "I feel very ashamed."

He then praised the 19-year-old champion Hashimoto. "I wanted to thank everyone for their support. Congratulations to the young favorite, who took first place."

Nagornyy continued: "I was rooting for him, I'll admit it. I went up to the bar, said [to him] that everything will work out. He is young and promising, he proved himself before.

"Unfortunately, I couldn't give my best 100%. Why it happened, I'll try to understand in my head. I was really angry with myself. I realized that my chance was flushed down the toilet."

Nagornyy's frustrations with his individual performance came two days after he helped the ROC team finish first in the team final, with a combined score of 262.5.

Combined with a silver medal won at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro when representing Russia, Nagornyy now has an Olympic medal in every color.