Kōhei Uchimura

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Uchimura was born in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, and began gymnastics at age 3 at his parents' sports club in Nagasaki Prefecture. His parents, Kazuhisa and Shuko Uchimura, were both competitive gymnasts. At age 15, he moved to Tokyo to train with Athens gold medalist Naoya Tsukahara. His younger sister Haruhi Uchimura is also a gymnast. He stated, 'I don’t believe in God. I never had lucky charms. All I believe in is practice.' In his first international event, the 2005 International Junior Competition in Japan, he competed outside official competition. Uchimura joined the Japanese national squad in 2007, making his senior debut at the 2007 Paris World Cup in March. He won the individual all-around silver medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, giving Japan its first Olympic medal in the event in 24 years. He then won the all-around title at the 2009 World Championships by a margin of 2.575 points ahead of Daniel Keatings, and repeated as world all-around champion in 2010 and 2011. At the 2011 Worlds, he became the first male gymnast to win three individual all-around titles, and the first gymnast of either sex to win three consecutive individual all-around titles. At the 2012 London Olympics, Uchimura won the individual all-around gold medal with a score of 92.690 and a silver on floor exercise. He then won two additional gold medals on team and individual all-around at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. He also won a record fourth consecutive all-around gold medal at the 2013 World Championships in Antwerp, finishing with 91.990 points, and earned four individual medals at that meet, the highest number he earned at a single World Championships.

Reader's Guide

Kōhei Uchimura's significance lies in his unprecedented dominance across two full Olympic cycles. He is the first gymnast, male or female, to capture every major all-around title in a single Olympic cycle, and he accomplished this feat twice: from 2009 to 2011 and 2013 to 2015 for world titles, plus the 2012 London Olympics and 2016 Rio Olympics for Olympic titles. His six world all-around titles (2009–2011 and 2013–2015) and two Olympic all-around golds (2012 and 2016) set a standard of consistency and excellence. The International Gymnast Magazine praised his skills as a 'combination of tremendous difficulty, supreme consistency and extraordinary elegance of performance.' His ability to win by large margins—such as 3.101 points at the 2011 Worlds, roughly the same margin separating second and fourteenth place—underscores his dominance. Uchimura also contributed to team medals, including silver at the 2008 Olympics, 2012 Olympics, and 2010 World Championships, and gold at the 2016 Olympics. His legacy is that of a gymnast who redefined all-around excellence, achieving victories in every major competition for years.

Did You Know?

• Uchimura began gymnastics at age 3 at his parents' sports club in Nagasaki Prefecture.
• He stated, 'I don’t believe in God. I never had lucky charms. All I believe in is practice.'
• At the 2011 Worlds, he won by a margin of 3.101 points, roughly the same margin that separated second and fourteenth place.
• He won the Longines Prize for Elegance at the 2011 World Championships along with Romania's Ana Porgras.
• Uchimura is the first gymnast, male or female, to win three consecutive individual all-around titles.