Some athletes turn sport into art. 26-year-old Kohei Uchimura is one of them.
– I try to create something beautiful, something that no one else can express. I want even those who don’t know our sport to be moved, watch and say “wow”. I want to touch their hearts, Uchimura added CNN.
The Japanese athlete did the same this weekend, when she won her sixth consecutive World Championship title in the all-around. No one else has won more than three.
– No one has dominated so much and for so long. It doesn’t happen in turns, writes Nancy Armor United States Today.
ELEGANT: Kohei Uchimura during the gold medal match at the WC on Saturday.
Photo: BEN STANSALL / Afp
Norwegian Gymnast: – Unique
Norwegian gymnast Espen Jansen, who has 11 NM gold medals in the all-around, was present as Uchimura crushed her opponents in Glasgow on Friday.
He said gymnasts are some of the most trained athletes in the world, and the all-around training is the most impressive.
– WC all-around gold is the ultimate achievement in gymnastics, and she does it year after year. This is truly unique. Inhuman! Jansen told NRK.
CONGRATULATIONS: Kohei Uchimura after his sixth consecutive World Cup title.
Photo: Andy Buchanan / Afp
Starting when he was three years old
Mangekamp consists of six different elements, each of which places its own demands on the body.
That’s why Uchimura had to start training at the age of three, in the gym his family built at home. Both of his parents were high-level gymnasts, but at the age of 15 he moved away from home to gamble. The world champion says he cannot live a day without training.
– I don’t believe in God. The only thing I’m sure of is training, he said.
Extreme sense of space
LEGEND: Many believe Uchimura is the greatest gymnast of all time, but he himself believes this man is greater: Vitaly Sherbo of Belarus. He won six gold medals during the 1992 Olympics.
Photo: John Gaps / Ap
Some described the 26 year old man as a robot, others described him as an alien. However, it is not his physique that differentiates Uchimura, who is 160 centimeters tall and weighs 55 kilograms, from his competitors.
– He has extreme qualities that I don’t think you can train him. No matter how much I practice, I never get that good. He was a prodigy, said Espen Jansen.
– How?
– He is a technical marvel. He has good spatial orientation – he always knows where he is, even if he is somersaulting with a screw. If you throw her out of the plane, she will always know exactly what happened and what happened, said Jansen, who believes that Uchimura should now be considered the greatest gymnast of all time.
This 26 year old player is a favorite ahead of the Rio Olympics. But even the “Uchimura machine” may be more concerned with its home Olympics in Tokyo in 2020.
– We must not forget that, he said a few minutes after the WC gold match.
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