Kohei Uchimura

Look, if you watched men's gymnastics any time in the 2010s, the guy standing on top at the end was almost always Kohei Uchimura, and honestly the numbers feel like a typo. Six straight world all-around titles, back-to-back Olympic all-around golds in London and Rio, a literal Guinness record for it. What gets me isn't just the winning, though, it's the way he did it: all of 163cm, swinging around the high bar and then sticking these clean, drama-free landings that made the impossible look like a polite formality. He never seemed to gloat either, just quietly chasing prettier routines and joking about becoming a gymnastics hermit. By the time he bowed out in 2022, he'd basically dragged Japanese gymnastics to the summit. Calling him "King" undersells it, frankly.

Kohei Uchimura is a Japanese artistic gymnast born on January 3, 1989 in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, who grew up in Isahaya, Nagasaki. He won the men's individual all-around gold medal at both the 2012 London Olympics and the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, and claimed six consecutive World Artistic Gymnastics Championships all-around titles from 2009 to 2015. After competing at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, where he won a silver medal on horizontal bar, he announced his retirement in January 2022 and subsequently became a coaching director and board member of the Japan Gymnastics Association.

Name (English)

Kohei Uchimura

Name (Japanese)

内村航平

Reading

うちむらこうへい

Born

January 3, 1989 (age 37)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Capricorn / Snake

Origin

Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan (raised in Isahaya, Nagasaki)

Blood type

A

Height

163 cm

Agency

Joykal (contracted 2021–2024)

Agency history

Konami Sports Club (2011–2016)
Ringer Hut (2017–2020)

Active years

2006–2022

Occupation

Artistic Gymnastics Athlete / Sports

Elementary school

Miharukadai Elementary School, Isahaya, Nagasaki

Junior high

Isahaya Municipal Isahaya Junior High School

High school

Toyo High School

University

Nippon Sport Science University, Faculty of Physical Education, Department of Physical Education

Debut

2006 — won both the National High School Invitational and the All-Japan Junior All-Around titles in his third year of high school, earning selection to the national team

Awards & achievements

• 2008 Beijing Olympics Men's Individual All-Around Silver Medal
• 2009 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Individual All-Around Gold Medal (first of six consecutive titles through 2015)
• 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Longines Prize for Elegance
• 2012 London Olympics Men's Individual All-Around Gold Medal
• 2012 Japan Sports Award Special Prize / Big Sports Award / JOC Sports Award Best Athlete
• 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics Men's Individual All-Around Gold Medal
• 2016 Guinness World Record (most all-around titles at World Artistic Gymnastics Championships and Olympics, men's)
• 2021 Tokyo Olympics Men's Horizontal Bar Silver Medal

Timeline

1. 1989Born January 3 in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka; began gymnastics at age 3
2. 2006Won National High School Invitational and All-Japan Junior All-Around double title; selected to national team
3. 2008Olympic debut at Beijing; won team silver and individual all-around silver medals
4. 2009First World All-Around Championship title (beginning of six consecutive titles through 2015)
5. 2011Graduated from Nippon Sport Science University; joined Konami Sports Club
6. 2012Won men's individual all-around gold medal at London Olympics
7. 2016Won men's individual all-around gold medal at Rio Olympics; left Konami Sports Club and turned professional
8. 2021Won silver medal on horizontal bar at Tokyo Olympics
9. 2022Announced retirement in January; held retirement exhibition 'KOHEI UCHIMURA THE FINAL' on March 12
10. 2023Appointed as strengthening coach and board member of the Japan Gymnastics Association

Spouse

Chiho Kamiya (former gymnast; married 2012; reported to be living separately and in divorce proceedings)

Children

First daughter (born 2013), second daughter (born 2015)

Parents

Father: Shuichi Uchimura (former gymnast); Mother: Shuko Uchimura (former gymnast); both operate Sports Club Uchimura

Siblings

Private

Hobbies

• Trampoline
• Visualization training

Specialties

• All six artistic gymnastics apparatus
• Horizontal bar

Motto

Private

• Official sitehttp://uchimura-kohei.com/
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%86%85%E6%9D%91%E8%88%AA%E5%B9%B3

Tags

• Gymnast
• Olympic Gold Medalist
• Isahaya, Nagasaki
• Six-time World All-Around Champion
• The King
• Retired
• Nippon Sport Science University

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.