Olympic Medalists in Gymnastics from G7 Nations Lay Flowers for A-bomb Victims in Hiroshima

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:07 JST, April 29, 2023

HIROSHIMA — A group of Olympic medalists and others from the gymnastics world representing all of the Group of Seven nations visited the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima on Friday and laid a wreath at a cenotaph for victims of the 1945 atomic bombing.

The ceremony was organized by the International Gymnastics Federation to promote peace through sports ahead of the G7 summit of industrialized nations to be hosted by Japan in Hiroshima in May.

Two-time men’s all-around Olympic gold medalist Kohei Uchimura and Mai Murakami, who won a bronze in the women’s floor exercise at the Tokyo Olympics, represented Japan in the ceremony.

Also present among the nine athletes from the seven nations was Katherine Uchida, a 23-year-old former rhythmic gymnast from Canada who lost a relative in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

Uchida commented that it is overwhelming to think about how difficult it must have been for the people in Hiroshima at the time of bombing.