The Belarusian booked his place in the eight-man final by achieving the second highest score in qualifying, with only China’s Gao Lei bettering his effort.

With the Chinese star currently holding the world title in the event, Hancharou needed to produce a superb routine to challenge for the gold medal. 

The 20-year-old lived up to the occasion by receiving the highest execution score of the competition with 26.400 points, helping him to a total of 61.745.

It proved enough to displace the defending champion Dong Dong at the top of the standings, the Chinese gymnast dropping to second on 60.535.

Goa looked to deliver the most difficult routine of the competition but the 23-year-old, though, lacked the control of his qualification round and his final score of 60.175 points was only good enough for the bronze medal. 

“I think I knew I did quite well," said Hancharou after winning Belarus' first gold medal of these Olympics. 

“I did my usual routine and at the end I felt very good, it was an explosion of feelings.

"Like all other athletes, I felt very nervous.

“However, we have excellent experts working with us, we have people who support us, our coaches, our family.

“This is how I perform better than the Chinese athletes and came out first."

After winning the silver medal in the event, Dong stretched his run of consecutive Olympic podium finishes to three consecutive Games.

He now boasts the full set of medals, having won bronze at Beijing 2008 and gold and London 2012.