kohei uchimura

The magnificent athlete Kōhei Uchimura, who also goes by the nicknames King Kōhei and Supermura, is regarded as one of the greatest gymnasts of all time. He is a 7x Olympic medalist, having won three Golds and four Silvers, and is also a 21x World Championships medalist. He is famous for being the first gymnast (male or female) to win every major all-around title in an entire single Olympic cycle, accomplishing the feat twice by winning six world (2009–2011 and 2013–2015) and two Olympic (2012 and 2016) individual all-around titles.

Born and raised in Fukuoka, Japan, Uchimura started gymnastics when he was three-years-old. He competed throughout his school years and on into university, where he won an individual Gold and Bronze medal, as well as a Team Gold, at the 2007 Summer Universiade. He started his senior career at 18 when he joined Japan’s national team, making his debut at the 2007 World Cup and winning Bronze for the vault. The following year he claimed Silver in the same competition, this time in the floor exercise. Then between 2009 and 2018 he won a staggering 21 medals (ten of them Gold, nine being for individual events) at the World Championships. He has also had huge Olympiad success, winning two Silvers at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, a Gold and two Silvers at the 2012 London Olympics, and two Golds at the 2016 Rio Olympics. After suffering an injury in 2017, his career began to stutter. He did continue to compete in a limited programme, and did qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. However, persistent injuries eventually forced him to retire from gymnastics in 2022.

Uchimura regularly connects with his legions of followers and fans through Instagram, and Facebook, posting pictures and videos of his life around gymnastics.