Kohei Uchimura, regarded by many as the greatest gymnast in history, is in line to miss the world championships for the first time since 2007 as he continues to be sidelined by injury.
“Yes, so far no chance to the worlds for him,” Japan’s gymnastics association said by email when asked if Uchimura will miss October’s worlds after withdrawing from this weekend’s national-level meet.
Uchimura, a two-time Olympic and six-time world all-around champion, is out of this weekend’s meet with a shoulder injury, according to Japanese media.
The 30-year-old said in April that he was in pain from the neck down after left and right ankle ligament damage limited his participation at worlds in 2017 and 2018.
“My body doesn’t move the way I’d hoped it would at this point,” Uchimura said in April, according to an Olympic Channel translation of a Sankei Sports report. “It’s not only the shoulders, but everything from the neck down is painful.”
Uchimura said going into the Rio Games that he planned to scale back his training and perhaps not compete in the all-around at the Tokyo Olympics, which would be his fourth and likely final Games. He will be older than any Japanese Olympic gymnast since 1968.
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