‘King Kohei’ crowns competitive career in men’s gymnastics with farewell showcase
13:49 JST, March 13, 2022
Three-time Olympic gold medalist Kohei Uchimura, the gymnastics superstar who won the individual all-around at both the 2012 London and the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, gave fans and teammates a farewell performance at Tokyo Metropolitan Gym on Saturday.
“My life in gymnastics definitely doesn’t end here,” the 33-year-old said at the event marking his retirement from competition, adding that from now on, “Please support the new Kohei Uchimura.”
Uchimura performed on all six apparatus that make up the all-around. He ended with the horizontal bar, his lone event at last year’s Tokyo Olympics in which he fell in qualifying and did not make the final.
This time he successfully performed the highly difficult Bretschneider, earning a big round of applause.
Uchimura, who won six consecutive world all-around titles to go with his seven Olympic medals, announced his retirement in January.
Kenzo Shirai, 25, a retired member of the gold-medal men’s team at the Rio Games, and 20-year-old Daiki Hashimoto, Uchimura’s successor to the Olympic all-around crown at Tokyo 2020, also participated in the send-off for “King Kohei.”
"Sports" POPULAR ARTICLE
-
New Uniforms to Protect Athletes against Secret Photographing
-
Shohei Ohtani, Wife Mamiko Walk Red Carpet Before All-Star Game; Jacket Lined with His Dog Dekopin
-
Onosato Moves Up to Sekiwake for Nagoya Tourney
-
Japan Olympic Athletes Gather for Official Launch Ceremony; Later Attend Send-Off Party with 6,000 Fans
-
Struggling Yokohama F Marinos Sack Harry Kewell
JN ACCESS RANKING
- Aviation Fuel Shortage Causes Problems at Regional Airports; Growing Demand, Lack of Workers to Transport
- Prices of over 10,000 Food and Beverage Items to Rise This Year; Figure is down from over 30,000 Last Year
- Sony Group to End Production of Blu-ray Discs; Market Has Shrunk Due To Growth Of Hard Disk Drives, Streaming
- Japan Ministry Concerned Over Same-Sex Couple Receiving City-Issued Resident Certificates Referring to ‘Common-Law Husband’
- Japan Court OKs Sex Change without Surgery