Olympic Gymnastics 2012: Japan's Kohei Uchimura Is the Man in Men's Gymnastics

After losing out on all-around gold to China's Yang Wei at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, there is no doubt that Japan's Kohei Uchimura will be motivated to go the extra mile in London. If recent performance is any indication, Uchimura will certainly be the man to beat this summer.

The 23-year-old star is now in his prime and will be very tough to beat in several events over the coming weeks. Uchimura is currently the three-time defending world champion in the all-around as he won titles in 2009, 2010 and 2011 in London, Rotterdam and Tokyo respectively.

On top of that, Uchimura is the defending world champion in the floor exercise and has won bronze medals in the high bar and parallel bar events. With that said, there is a distinct possibility that Uchimura could come away from London with five medals, including three golds if he excels in the floor and all-around events, and his team dominates as well.

The Japanese squad will receive stiff competition from China, the United States and other countries, so a team gold isn't a guarantee, but as far as individuals go, there is no question that Uchimura is the guy that everyone is going to be gunning for.

Seeing as Yang Wei retired from active competition in 2009, Uchimura must now deal with the label of top dog. His silver-medal performance in the all-around was somewhat of a surprise four years ago as he was a 19-year-old who pretty much came out of nowhere, but Uchimura simply isn't going to sneak up on anyone this time around.

In fact, Uchimura can take a lot from the way Yang Wei handled himself in Beijing. Yang Wei was very experienced and was the favorite to take all-around gold in front of his home fans. It would have been very easy for the veteran to get flustered and succumb to the upstart Uchimura, but he composed himself and was victorious.

While he won't be in his home country, Uchimura's situation is now quite similar to Yang Wei's as all of the hungry, talented gymnasts behind him in the pecking order are going to do their best to knock him from his lofty perch.

Nobody has been able to do that over the past three years, however, so Uchimura's ability may ultimately win out. Uchimura will have to deal with high expectations, but he has been the world's best male gymnast for a few years and has to be used to it by now. As long as Uchimura is cool under pressure, he'll be leaving London with quite a haul.

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