Stars like Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps are remembered for their achievements in the last editions of the Olympic Games; however, they are not the only athletes in recent years who have left their name engraved with gold letters in the history of world sport.
Kohei Uchimura He is one of the great athletes and gymnasts that Japan has given to the world. The son of two former gymnasts, the Japanese, who was born on February 3, 1989, arrived to raise the name of his country again, both individually and as a team. Among its palm groves, three golds and four Olympic silver stand out.
When he was just 15 years old, the ‘King Kohei’, as he is also known, decided to leave his home in Kitakyushu, a city located in Fukuoka prefecture, on the island of Kyushu, and move to Tokyo to train alongside Naoya Tsukahara, his great idol in gymnastics.
The successes for Uchimura began to occur shortly after leaving the family gym, because in Beijing 2008 With just 19 years of age, he managed to obtain the Silver medal in individual and team all-around. A year later he obtained his first individual Gold medal in the Championships World Artistic Gymnastics after beating the British Daniel Keatings and the Russian Yuri Ryazanov.
Uchimura became the first gymnast (male or female) to obtain gold in world championships six times in a row complete individual tests, achieved that he obtained between 2009 and 2015.
An olympic star
After winning her third consecutive Gold medal at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in 2011, Kohei Uchimura was shaping up to be the great champion in London 2012, and as expected, the Japanese did not fail and hung his first individual Olympic gold medal after beating the German Marcel Nguyen (silver) and the American Danell Leyva (bronze) in the general contest.
The legend of Kohei Uchimura He got bigger four years later, when in Rio 2016 he managed to defend his Olympic title, although that occasion was not so easy, because only 99 thousandths of a point (92.365 vs. 92.26) separated the first place from the second, in which the Ukrainian finished Oleg Verniaiev.
In Brazil, Kohei won his third Olympic Gold from his compatriots Ryohei Kato, Kenzo Shirai, Yusuke Tanaka and Koji Yamamuro, who showed their might in the team competition and climbed to the top of the podium.
He will not defend his Olympic throne
Although it was expected that Tokyo 2020 became the third Olympic cycle in which Uchimura will shine as the best gymnast of the world, With 31 years of age and dragging several injuries, the Japanese decided not to defend his Olympic throne, thus maintaining the tie, in terms of individual Olympic titles, which he shares with the former Soviet Viktor Chukarin (1952 and 1956) and his compatriot Sawao Kato (1968 and 1972).
Although he will not be present at the complete artistic gymnastics test, during Tokyo 2020 the whole world will be able to enjoy and delight, perhaps, for the last time in the Olympic Games, with the great technique, elegance and talent of Kohei Uchimura in the high bar event.
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