Japan, Uchimura Lead As First Men’s Teams Qualify For Rio 2016 At 2015 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships

Uchimura vs. Verniaiev: the duel is on
Nobody has been able to touch Japan’s Kohei Uchimura in the individual All-around since the 2009 London World Championships, so it’s not surprising that the five-time World and reigning Olympic champion exited the preliminary round in Glasgow as top qualifier, in spite of a fall on Floor Exercise.

But nobody in a World qualification has ever come as close to Uchimura’s score as Oleg Verniaiev (UKR) did Monday. The difference between the two, a mere 0.433, is made more interesting because like Uchimura, Verniaiev made mistakes on Floor. Having already won the European Championships, European Games and World University Games this year, Verniaiev can permit himself to dream of becoming the first gymnast to dethrone “King” Kohei in Friday’s individual All-around final.

Japan at the summit, China trailing behind
Led by Uchimura and promising newcomer Kazuma Kaya, the Japanese men qualified to the team final in first place, nearly two points ahead of their Chinese rivals. But only three scores will count on each apparatus in Wednesday’s final, as compared to four in qualifications. Expect a tight battle between the Japanese team, which has not won team gold at Worlds since 1978, and the Chinese, who have carried off every title except one since 1994.

Oleg Verniaiev

Eight nations book tickets to Rio…
Besides Japan and China, Great Britain, Russia, the USA, Switzerland, Brazil and South Korea will fight it out in the team final. These eight teams have also earned the first five-person team berths for the 2016 Olympics in Rio. That’s huge for host country Brazil, which will attend the Games with a Men’s Gymnastics team for the first time in history. Switzerland, which gave a dazzling performance to finish with nearly the same total as the United States, will make its first trip to the Games since 1992.

…while the chase continues for eight others
In spite of the best efforts of stars Marcel Nguyen and Fabian Hambuechen, Germany is headed to the Pre-Olympic Test Event in Rio April 16-19, where it hopes to win itself a team berth to next summer’s Games. France, Ukraine, the Netherlands, Spain, Romania, Canada and Belarus will also contend for one of the four team berths up for grabs there.

In the shadow of Uchimura
While Verniaiev has positioned himself as the only gymnast likely to rival Uchimura in the Men’s All-around final, American Danell Leyva, China’s Deng Shudi and Xiao Ruoteng, Britain’s Daniel Purvis, 2014 World All-around silver medallist Max Whitlock and possibly Russia’s David Belyavskiy could also contend for the podium. After his silver medal performance at this summer’s Pan American Games, Manrique Larduet of Cuba is also one to watch as he continues an impressive World Championships debut.

Hard times for Olympic champions
Three years after their golden performances in London, Epke Zonderland (NED), Arthur Zanetti (BRA) and Krisztian Berki (HUN) all got lost in the crowd in Glasgow and failed to make event finals. Berki, the three-time World champion on Pommel Horse, loses the most because he was relying on a medal to qualify to Rio and now has little hope of getting to the Games. Zonderland made an error on his High Bar dismount and won’t compete in finals, but will get a second shot at Olympic qualification with the Dutch men at April’s Test Event. The scores on Rings were tight, and Zanetti, who gave the best performance of the London event gold medallists, was simply the odd man out. He’s still the luckiest of the three, though, since Brazil has now qualified for Rio.

GLASGOW 2015 ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: Eight Things To Know About The Men’s Competition

King Kohei
In Men’s Artistic Gymnastics, he’s the man: Since winning his first World All-around title in London in 2009, Kohei Uchimura has added another golden chapter to his stellar career with every passing year. With five consecutive World titles and the Olympic gold in 2012, Uchimura holds the record for All-around victories at the World Championships. Though his brilliance has brought him five Olympic medals (one gold and four silver) and 16 World medals (seven gold and five silver among them), the 26-year-old from Japan strives for one thing only: perfection.

Kohei Uchimura, “The Bolt of Gymastics”

Imperial China
For more than two decades, one nation has almost singlehandedly dominated the Men’s team competition at the World Championships. Since Dortmund in 1994, the Chinese men have won 10 of 11 World team titles, in addition to three of the five Olympic titles up for grabs along the way. For the past eight years, the team competition has been a ferocious battle between China, which deploys a solid legion of event specialists, and Japan, led by its star Kohei Uchimura. The competition is so tight that of the 273 points earned by both teams last year in Nanning, the gold medal was decided by one tenth of a point!

A Dutchman in flight
In a sport filled with daredevils, Epke Zonderland (NED) does combinations on High Bar even the most envelope-pushing gymnasts only dream of. The 29-year-old’s ability to do consecutive flipping release skills — letting go of the bar, flipping and twisting over it, regrabbing it and letting go again immediately to do still more flips and twists — has catapulted him to Olympic gold, two World titles and immeasurable Youtube stardom. Video footage of his winning Horizontal Bar routine in London in 2012 has received more than 1.8 million views to date, and earned him the nickname “The Flying Dutchman.”

The incredible Japanese twisting sensation
An adolescent upstart with an aptitude for twisting like a top, Kenzo Shirai’s prodigious talent first led him to become the youngest man ever to make the Japanese National team, and in 2013, one of the youngest-ever World champions on Floor. Shirai has two signature skills on Floor — a triple twisting forward somersault and a quadruple twisting back somersault, which he performs at the end of his routine — as well as a triple-twisting Vault, all of which are named after him. This year he plans to unveil a new tumbling run, which he hopes will help him regain the World Floor title.

Man of the year
2015 has been a golden year for Oleg Verniaiev: Since last November, the determined Ukrainian has won every competition he’s entered, racking up All-around titles at the European Championships, European Games, World University Games and American Cup, the last of which earned him the FIG World Cup series title for the second consecutive year. While Verniaiev is considered Uchimura’s most serious rival, the two have yet to meet in competition in 2015. The last time the two competed in the same arena was in 2014 in Nanning, where Verniaiev finished fourth All-around. Uchimura, of course, won the gold.

Great Britain awaits its first king
Beth Tweddle was the pioneer on the women’s side, but no British man has yet won a World title in Men’s Gymnastics. Nevertheless, before and since the London Olympic Games, the sport has experienced unprecedented growth and popularity on the island. During the London Games, Louis Smith (silver on Pommel Horse), Max Whitlock (bronze on Pommel Horse), Kristian Thomas, Daniel Purvis and Sam Oldham made history by taking bronze in the team competition. Those first four, aided by Nile Wilson and Brinn Bevan this year, hope to do as well in Glasgow, the first stop on the road to Rio.

Epke Zonderland

38 gold medals
With the exception of Jake Dalton (USA), all medallists from the 2014 Worlds in Nanning are expected to compete in Glasgow. Additionally, no fewer than 15 former World champions will be present, including Marian Dragulescu (ROU/9 World medals), Kohei Uchimura (JPN/7), Zhang Chenglong (CHN/4), Krisztian Berki (HUN/3), Epke Zonderland (NED/2), Diego Hypolito (BRA/2), Lin Chaopan (CHN/2), Liu Yang (CHN/2), Yuri Van Gelder (NED/1), Arthur Zanetti (BRA/1), Oleg Verniaiev (UKR/1), Kenzo Shirai (JPN/1), Danell Leyva (USA/1), Fabian Hambüchen (GER/1), Vlasios Maras (GRE/1).

Lords of the Rings
Five Olympic gold medallists from London 2012 will also be present in Glasgow to continue the grand adventure that all hope will lead them to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. These are Kohei Uchimura (JPN/All-around), Epke Zonderland (NED/Horizontal Bar), Arthur Zanetti (BRA/Still Rings), Krisztian Berki (HUN/Pommel Horse) and Zhang Chenglong (CHN/Team competition).

2015 ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS IN GLASGOW

From the World Championships in Glasgow to the Olympics in Rio ! For the elite of the Gymnastics world, the big Olympic dream could begin to become a reality at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships October 23 to November 1 in the Britain’s fourth largest city.

With 594 athletes representing 87 countries from Algeria to Vietnam registered to compete, the 46th edition of the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships breaks all previous records in terms of participation. During the competition, other records stand to fall as well.

The uncontested king of Gymnastics since 2009, Kohei Uchimura will seek to extend his incredible winning streak in Glasgow. The 26-year-old from Japan, already owner 16 World and five Olympic medals, has won the last five consecutive World All-around titles, in addition to the Olympic gold in 2012.

The American Simone Biles, 18, will try to become the first gymnast to win three consecutive women’s World All-around titles. Russia’s Svetlana Khorkina is currently the only gymnast in history to have won three World All-around golds, though she did not do it in consecutive years (1997, 2001 and 2003).

In addition to almost all 2014 World champions, a large number of 2012 Olympic gold medallists will be present in Glasgow, among them Gabrielle Douglas (USA), Alexandra Raisman (USA), Arthur Zanetti (BRA), Krisztian Berki (HUN) and Epke Zonderland (NED).

The Glasgow Worlds will be all the more suspenseful because the quest for World gold doubles as the first of two qualifying competitions for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Following the qualification competitions (October 24 for the women and October 26 for the men), the top eight teams will secure the right to send five gymnasts to compete in the team event at next summer’s Olympics. Teams ranked ninth through 16th will have a second chance to qualify at the Pre-Olympic Test Event in Rio April 16-19, 2016.

For gymnasts whose nations do not advance to the Games or the Test Event, winning a medal in individual event finals October 31 and November 1 is the surest way to obtain their ticket to the Rio Games.

From Glasgow to Rio !

The SSE Hydro in Glasgow offers a unique backdrop for showcasing the performers of one of the most popular sports in the Olympic programme. A giant 230 square meter screen will put spectators right in the middle of the action, while the judges will be seated at the sides of the arena, allowing maximum visibility of the gymnasts.

The intention is to create “a ground-breaking competition for spectators,” said Matthew Greenwood, competition’s manager of the Glasgow 2015 Organising Committee, during an orientation meeting with the delegations.

“We all know that organising a World Championships takes an incredible amount of resources and energy. Glasgow has surpassed our expectations, and I would like to extend my thanks to the organising committee,” added Nellie Kim, President of the FIG Women’s Technical Committee. “Every little detail of these Championships is truly impressive, and I am sure that the experience, the effort and the wisdom put into the process of preparation will lead us all to a truly unique event.”