Chapter 1 THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME As he reached to grasp the bar Kohei Uchimura’s face looked deep in concentration One event remained in the men’s all-around final at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro Brazil The Japanese star was having a good competition but he was still nearly a point behind Oleg Verniaiev of Ukraine To overtake his main rival Uchimura needed an excellent routine on the high bar Kohei Uchimura competes on the high bar 4
The crowd inside the arena fell silent as Uchimura stepped up to perform Four years earlier Uchimura had been crowned Olympic champion Could he repeat that now Uchimura didn’t hesitate One after another he performed high-flying release skills He let go of the bar and caught it again perfectly several times When he cast into his double-twisting double-layout dismount time seemed to stand still Uchimura soared through the air twisting and turning His feet hit the mat and he stuck the landing flawlessly GREATEST OF ALL TIME Afterward Uchimura paced the sidelines and waited for his score from the judges Before these Olympics many people had already called him the greatest male gymnast of all time Had he done enough to win Olympic gold again When his score came up Uchimura took over the lead But Verniaiev still had to perform 6
Oleg Verniaiev won a gold medal for his performance on the parallel bars in the 2016 Olympics The Ukranian’s high bar routine was one of the best of his career It was clean and smooth But Verniaiev did not take the same risks as Uchimura He did not attempt any of the high-flying release moves Uchimura had done 7
