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5 new Olympic champs headline gymnastics worlds

TOKYO • Kohei Uchimura will be aiming for a measure of redemption when the world championships begin in his hometown this week in what could be a competition finale for one of the greatest male gymnasts of all time.

Stung by the disappointment of not qualifying for the horizontal bar final at the Tokyo Olympics, the 32-year-old Uchimura will be aiming to reclaim the world title on horizontal bar he last won in 2015.

The 50th artistic gymnastics world championships started Monday and will continue through Sunday in Kitakyushu, featuring more than 300 gymnasts representing 59 countries. The first medals will be awarded Thursday in the women’s allaround.

Simone Biles and Sunisa Lee of the United States aren’t taking part but five newly-minted Olympic gold medalists — Daiki Hashimoto of Japan, Rebeca Andrade of Brazil, South Korea’s Shin Jea-hwan and Russians Angelina Melnikova and Vladislava Urazova — will give the event star power.

Uchimura is a six-time world all-around champion and a seven-time Olympic medalist. His fall from the horizontal bar at the Tokyo Games was not how he wanted to end his illustrious career.

“I know the word ‘revenge’ will be mentioned,” Uchimura told Japanese online sports site Sponichi Annex. “But to be able to hold the event in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, all I’m feeling is appreciation. So I want to turn in a performance that is full of appreciation.”

Uchimura has been dealing with injuries in recent years and has said in the past that he wouldn’t have continued competing if Tokyo hadn’t hosted the Olympics.

His main challenger this week will be Hashimoto who, at 19, became the youngest man ever to win the Olympic all-around title at the Tokyo Olympics.

Hashimoto won the gold in the horizontal bar after Uchimura faltered, becoming the new face of the sport in Japan.

“It’s always an honor to compete with Kohei Uchimura in any kind of competition,” Hashimoto said. “Of course, we are teammates, but I’m very excited to compete against him at the world championships, which means we are going to compete for world No. 1.”

Hashimoto will be the clear favorite to take the men’s all-round title. Defending champion Nikita Nagornyy of Russia is not competing. The only man who finished inside the Top 10 in the Tokyo all-around was eighth-place Ahmet Onder of Turkey.

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2021-10-19T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-10-19T07:00:00.0000000Z

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The Gazette, Colorado Springs