‘Robots’ Uchimura and Biles ready to roll at Rio Olympics

Douglas overwhelming favourites to win 2nd successive gold

LONDON, July 27, (RTRS): The world’s best gymnasts will be hoping the sweat and tears they have shed in training will provide them with the spark they need at the Olympics to pull the plug on two record-chasing champions who have been dubbed “robots”.

Such has been the dominance of Japan’s Kohei Uchimura and American Simone Biles over the four-year Olympic cycle that if they fail to win the allaround titles at the Rio Games, it will be considered one of the biggest shocks witnessed in the sport.

After collecting every Olympic and world all-around title since taking silver at the 2008 Beijing Games, King Kohei will be favourite to become the first man since compatriot Sawao Kato in 1972 to win successive Olympic all-around titles. But the all-conquering gymnast, who has been immortalised in comic strips in his homeland and has an army of screaming teenybopper fans around the world, has his eyes firmly set on a medal he has yet to get his hands on — the Olympic men’s team gold.

The collective strength of China means that since 1994, Chinese men have won 10 of 12 world championship team titles and three of the five Olympic golds on offer.

Japan, who captured five straight Olympic golds from 1960 to 1976, did climb to the top of the podium in Athens in 2004 but that was during the pre-Uchimura era.

Since Uchimura’s arrival on the world stage, Japan have had to make do with silver medals behind champions China in 2008 and 2012.

But having finally toppled China from their lofty perch at last year’s world championships in Glasgow, Uchimura hopes he can now lead his band of Japanese brothers to Rio glory.

“All I can think about is how much I want team gold. That’s everything,” Uchimura, who owns a record six successive world all around golds, told Reuters.

Despite his diminutive 1.62-metre frame, Uchimura is regarded as a gymnastics goliath as he has turned countless rivals into emotional wrecks in his never-ending search for perfection.

“A lot of foreign athletes say I perform like a machine. I take that as a

In this Oct 30, 2015, file photo, first placed Kohei Uchimura from Japan shows the number of his world championship titles after the men’s all-around final competition at the World Artistic Gymnastics championships in Glasgow, Scotland. (AP)