Kôhei Uchimura

Arguably one of the best gymnasts in the history of the sport, Japan's Kohei Uchimura held multiple Olympic medals in the all-around competition - a series of six events in men's gymnastics - as well as team and individual floor exercises, as well as the record for most consecutive World Championship wins.  Born January 3, 1989 in Kitakyushu, Japan, Uchimura's parents were also competitive gymnasts who introduced their son to the sport at the age of three. He showed promise at an early age, and began training with gold medalist Naoya Tsukahara in Tokyo. In March 2007, he made his debut as a member of Japan's National Team at the Paris World Cup, where he won a bronze medal in the vault competition. By August of that year, Uchimura had placed first in the floor competition, and repeated the feet at the World Cup in Tianjin the following year. At his first Olympic Games in 2008, he won his first silver medal in the all-around final, which provided Japan with its first Olympic gymnastics medal in nearly a quarter century. Uchimura cemented his status as a rising star in international gymnastics with consecutive wins in the all-around finals at the World Championships from 2009 to 2011; the trio of championship titles made him not only the first male gymnast to do so, but also the first gymnast of either gender to earn three consecutive wins. Uchimura's performance at the 2012 Olympics in London was marred by falls during the men's team final, spurring Team Japan to appeal his scoring and elevate his win from bronze to silver medal status. However, he rebounded in the all-around final, winning his first Olympic gold medal in that event, as well as silver in the men's floor routine. He then returned to the World Championships in 2013 for his fourth consecutive all-around win, as well as three additional medals in floor, parallel bars and horizontal bars. Uchimura then entered the international sports history books in 2014 by winning his fifth all-around world championship, a feat he then topped by capturing his sixth all-around win in 2015, setting the place for his return to the Olympics in 2016.