Kohei Uchimura’s quest for eighth Olympic medal ends with fall in qualification

Two-time Olympic all-around champion Kohei Uchimura entered the Tokyo Games as a favorite to win gold as an event specialist focusing on high bar, but the Japanese superstar’s quest for an eighth Olympic medal was cut short during the second subdivision of qualifications Saturday afternoon.

After nailing three sky-high release moves to open his high bar routine, Uchimura lost his grip and came off the apparatus. Though he successfully executed the remainder of his set after remounting the high bar, his score of 13.866 is not high enough to place in the top eight and advance to event finals.

Tokyo was Uchimura’s fourth Olympic appearance, and because he is not competing as a part of the Japanese team, his competition is over. It is unclear what Uchimura will do next. The famed gymnast is 32 years old and struggled with injuries in 2019.