PARIS — At René Cournoyer’s second Olympics, the emotions are higher and “so much more enjoyable.”

Three years after he made his Olympic debut in Tokyo as the lone Canadian competing in men’s artistic gymnastics, Cournoyer is part of a five-person team, the first Canada has qualified for the event since the 2008 Beijing Games.

“The energy and having people supporting you makes a huge difference for the competition,” he said from Paris’ Bercy Arena following the first of three rounds of men’s qualification on the opening day of Olympic competition. “If anything goes wrong at any point, you know you have your teammates supporting you and ready to back you up. If things go right, then they — on top of the whole crowd of the stadium supporting you — are cheering you on.”