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RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- The "flying Dutchman" Epke Zonderland hoped that his performance at the Rio Olympic Games could be as good as his in London four years ago where he clinched the high bar title.
"Today I felt good during the training, but it's still a strange preparation," said Zonderland at the Rio Olympic Arena after the podium training on Wednesday.
Zonderland, 30, sustained a concussion after a fall during training in August 2015. He returned to competition two months later, but even failed to qualify for the high bar final at the World Championships.
At the end of last year, Zonderland underwent surgery on his sinuses to cure a chronic cold he had been suffering during 2015.
"I felt better since March," said Zonderland. "Four weeks before the test event, I slowly recovered."
Talking about the high bar event at Rio, Zonderland expected that "the level could be very high".
"At London, everybody did their best and I think I can do it again," added the defending champion.
The men's team of the Netherlands have qualified for the Olympic team event for the first time since 1928 and Zonderland said they were already happy to be here.
"Of course we think about the final, but we have to be quite lucky," he said.
