UCHIMURA Kohei

General
TOKYO A ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME CHANCE
He said he expects the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo to be a significantly different experience compared to his previous Olympic appearances in 2008, 2012 and 2016. As he has been troubled by shoulder problems, he decided in mid-2020 to focus only on the horizontal bar in Tokyo. He also said that he had thought about retiring from international competition after Tokyo, but was yet to make a final decision. "For me, the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo is not like the Olympics that I have competed in before. It is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. It is the biggest goal of my life. I can even say that I was born for it. It almost feels like a miracle. I just thought that it was no longer realistic for me to do all six disciplines anymore and felt the horizontal bar is where my best shot at the Olympics was. I want to go to the Games pain-free rather than put myself in pain to compete in six." (Olympic channel Instagram profile, 31 Aug 2020; news.yahoo.co.jp, 30 Jul 2020; nikkansports.com, 26 Mar 2020; Mainichi Shimbun YouTube channel, 11 Mar 2019; nhk.or.jp, 07 Jan 2020, 26 Jun 2020; tokyo-sports.co.jp, 02 Jul 2020)

TOUGH TIME
He was not able to secure a spot for the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, due to shoulder injuries sustained at the 2019 All Japan Championships. He had previously competed at every world championships since 2009. "It was difficult to watch the world championships in 2019 from Japan, because I always expected to be there. I never imagined that this would happen to me before my retirement from competition. However, when I look back on my achievements, maybe things went too smoothly for me. Sometimes I was asked about how to overcome tough times before and after the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, and I didn't really know what to say. But if I'm asked it again now, I would say that it's okay to fail or fall down. Despite not being selected to the national team and suffering shoulder injuries, it forms an experience that is part of my life. Perhaps it was something I had to experience in order to continue artistic gymnastics." (nhk.or.jp, 07 Jan 2020)

At the 2018 World Championships in Doha, Qatar, he became the first male Japanese artistic gymnast to have competed at eight editions of the world championships. He equalled the record of female artistic gymnast Kyoko Oshima who has also competed at eight editions of the tournament. (SportsDeskOnline, 01 Aug 2020)

At the 2015 World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, he became the first Japanese artistic gymnast of either gender to have won a career total of eight world championship gold medals. He won three gold medals in Glasgow, meaning he was also the first Japanese artistic gymnast to win nine and 10 world championship gold medals. (SportsDeskOnline, 01 Aug 2020)

At the 2014 World Championships in Nanning, People's Republic of China, he became the first Japanese artistic gymnast of either gender to win a career total of 16 world championship medals of any colour. After the 2018 edition his tally had risen to 21 total world championship medals. He did not compete at the 2019 edition. (SportsDeskOnline, 01 Aug 2020)