11. Januar 2022  
Tokyo, JPN  
Artistic Gymnastics

King Kohei ends dream career

Kohei UCHIMURA (JPN)

The 2012, 2016 Olympic all-around gold medallist Kohei UCHIMURA (JPN)  missed the podium at both of gymnastics' global events in 2021. The 10-time world champion ends his career now at 33 and announced his retirement on Tuesday. The announcement was made through his management company. He will hold a press conference on Friday this week, when he will detail his decision in his own words, the management company said.
Just a week after turning 33, Uchimura ends his illustrious career having won seven Olympic medals, including three golds: back-to-back all-around titles in 2012 and 2016 and team gold in 2016. Considered by most to be the greatest male gymnast of all time, Uchimura had been hampered by injuries since winning two gold medals at Rio de Janeiro 2016.

Though he competed at last summer's Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games - his fourth Games appearance - he failed to reach the final in the horizontal bar, the only apparatus on which he competed, after slipping off on a pirouetting element. Two months later, Uchimura finished sixth in the high bar final at the world championships in his hometown Kitakyushu, Japan, which would turn out to be his final competition.

King Kohei was world champion on high bar (2015), won two silver and two bronze medals and he reached a total of 6 horizontal bar finals at world championships - only not in his last two appearances in 2021 in Tokyo and in Kitakyushu ...
Uchimura dominated the sport for nearly a decade, winning an unprecedented six straight world all-around titles from 2009-2015, in addition to his two Olympic titles. At the worlds, he collected a total of 21 medals including 10 golds throughout his career. Taking up gymnastics at the age of three, Uchimura also captured 10 consecutive All Japan all-around titles up until 2017.
* Source: Japanese media