Rio de Janeiro— Japan in men's category By gymnastics won gold in team championship at the Olympic Games that she dreamed of. On Monday, she competed powerfully and confidently.

The team consisting of Kohei Uchimura, Ryohei Kato, Yusuke Tanaka, Kenzo Shirai and Koji Yamamuro at the Olympic Arena in Rio started slowly and rolled over, but gradually got ahead of the leader Russia, and then confidently took first place, significantly overtaking everyone in the final.

Olympic debutant Shirai's floor exercise performance was stunning, giving Japan the opportunity to overtake closest rivals Russia and China. The final score of 274.094 points confirmed the victory of the Japanese Olympic team, which won gold in the team competition for the first time since the 2004 Athens Games.

“Now that I have received this medal, I really feel that this is very real. Olympic gold", - said team leader Uchimura, who is a six-time absolute world champion. On Wednesday, he will try to defend his individual Olympic title.

“I have won gold medals in individual events before, but this is a very special feeling. Winning gold with my comrades gives me great happiness.”

Russia received the silver medal with 271.453 points. And China, which won gold in 2008 and 2012, took bronze with 271.122 points.

Shirai finished second in the individual standings, scoring points for the team at just the right time. Japan came up to floor exercises in the final, ahead of Russia and China by less than a point, but the 19-year-old gymnast brought the Japanese a huge number of points - 16.133, and all doubts about their golden victory disappeared by themselves.

“I felt a huge responsibility stepping onto the platform,” said Sirai, who will compete on the floor exercise on Sunday. - The coach told me to work out everything that I didn’t succeed during the qualification, and I didn’t even think that I would fail. I knew that if I did everything as usual, it would be great.”

Japan, after 37 years of setbacks, won the team event at the World Championships in Glasgow last October, started the Olympics with great difficulty, as Yamamuro fell off his horse, which became the first projectile for the Japanese Olympians that evening, while performing a vault.

“At first I began to think why I failed the jump, but then I told myself that I should just go out and do what I can do, thinking only about it,” Yamamuro said.

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Due to a mistake by Yamamuro, Japan ended up in sixth place after the first stage, but strong performances on the rings and in the vault brought the Japanese to second place behind Russia. And then Tanaka with a great performance on parallel bars reduced the backlog.

“After the London Olympics, I worked hard for four years and wanted to keep my temper in this competition,” said Tanaka, who earned 15.9 points on uneven bars, the highest score on the team since Shirai's result on floor exercise.

Japan in Saturday qualifying was very difficult to find their pace. Uchimura slipped on his horse and fell off the crossbar, because of which the nerves of everyone before the final were strained to the limit.

But a consistent performance in the final brought the team the prize that had eluded them in the last two Olympics. Shirai, who became the only Olympic debutant, was glad that the first attempt was successful.

“I have dreamed of competing in the Olympics since childhood, especially when I saw the team lose in Beijing and London,” said Shirai, a student at the Sports University of Japan. — So I still do not fully believe that the Japanese team won gold medal and that I'm part of the team. I'm really happy, great feeling."

Now that Japan's 12-year itch for Olympic honors has faded, Uchimura is looking forward to more victories at home in four years. “What happened in Athens cannot be surpassed, but here we are making our own history,” said the 27-year-old native of Nagasaki Prefecture. “I think we can carry that over to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.”

“Such a result will put pressure on the gymnasts who will compete in the finals in 2020, but there are many deserving people in Japan. I would like them to see our achievements and adopt our experience to the maximum.”

He is famous for being the first gymnast to win the all-around at all major starts in one Olympic cycle, including the all-around at the Olympics. He also became famous for performing complex exercises with incredible accuracy. His skills were praised in International Gymnast Magazine as "a combination of great complexity, consistency and extreme elegance of performance."

early years

Uchimura started gymnastics at the age of three in Nagasaki in sports club your parents. His parents Kazuhisa and Shuko Uchimura were also gymnasts. At the age of 15, he moved to Tokyo, where he was coached by Athens Olympic champion Naoya Tsukahara. His sister Haruhi Uchimura is also a gymnast, number 14 on the Japan team. Kouhei's first participation in international competitions took place in 2005, at the international championship among juniors in Japan.

Career

2007

Uchimura joined the Japan national team in 2007. His senior competition debut came at the World Cup in Paris in March. He won bronze in the vault competition and placed ninth on the floor exercise. In August, he won gold with the team and finished first on the floor and third on the vault. Summer Universiade 2007 in Bangkok. At the Japan Championships in October, he placed seventh in the all-around. A month later on international tournament"Good luck, Beijing" he won silver with the team and again finished seventh in the all-around.

2008

Utimura started the 2008 season by winning gold in the free skate at the Tianjin World Cup in May. In the summer of the same year, Uchimura was selected for the country's Olympic team to participate in the Beijing Olympics. On Olympic Games he won silver in the team competition with his vault, uneven bars, horizontal bar and free skate. Kouhei reached the all-around final and became the silver medalist, winning Japan's first medal in this event in 24 years. Utimura received a perfect free skate score of 15.825 (double pike arabesque and triple twist) and landed a spectacular crossbar combo (Colman's fly, Kovac's fly). He also competed in the free skate final where he placed fifth. At this year's Japan Championships, 19-year-old Kouhei received the highest marks in the free skate and pommel horse, and won his first overall title in Japan.

Best of the day

2009

In October 2009, Uchimura competed at his first World Championship. He was considered the favorite in the all-around and outscored his closest pursuer Daniel Keatings by 2.575 points, scoring top marks in the free skate, rings, vault and parallel bars. Uchimura also placed fourth in the free skate and placed sixth on the crossbar. In December, he appeared on the cover of International Gymnastics Magazine, with the headline "Uchimura leads".

2010

In October 2010, Kohei Uchimura competed at his second World Championship in Rotterdam. As in the previous year, he dominated the all-around, beating silver medalist Philip Boy 2, 251 points. In the all-around, he received the highest marks in the free program and a very high mark for the execution of the two-turn vault (Yurchenko) - 9.666.

Kouhei again helped the Japanese team to second place in the team all-around, performing on all apparatus except rings. He also qualified for two finals, winning both the silver (free skate) and bronze (parallel bars) medals.

2011

On October 14, 2011, Kouhei Uchimura won the all-around again at the World Championships, for the third year in a row. With a score of 93.631, he won 3.101 points from second place (about the same number of points separated the silver medalist from 14th place). He not only became the first gymnast to win three absolute world champion titles, but also the first gymnast to win three consecutive absolute champion titles. During the all-around, Kouhei received the highest score in four of the six exercises. He also qualified for five of the six finals (except vault). In addition, Uchimura won the first gold medal in a separate event - on a free program - and a bronze on the crossbar. Also, Uchimura again helped the Japanese team win the silver medal in the team championship.

At the 2011 World Championships, Uchimura also received the Most Elegant Gymnast award from championship sponsor Longines. He was awarded a $5,000 watch from this firm. Uchimura was very happy to receive this award as he collects watches.

In November 2011, Uchimura won 4 gold medals in the Japanese Championship. In addition to gold in the all-around, he also won in the free program, pommel horse and crossbar.

2012

At the Summer Olympic Games in London, Utimura, who always clearly performs his combinations, suddenly fell several times and took not the first place in the all-around qualification. In the final of the team competition, Uchimura fell off his horse, but the Japanese delegation filed a protest, stating that he did not fall off, but landed on his feet, albeit with a gross mistake. Prior to filing an appeal, gymnasts from Great Britain were supposed to receive silver medals, and bronze medals from Ukraine. However, the appeal was granted, and the Japanese team received silver medals, pushing the British to third place, and completely displacing the Ukrainians from the podium. In the men's all-around, Uchimura again dominated and confidently won the gold medal with a score of 92.690. Kouhei also won the silver medal in the free skate with a score of 15.8.

2013

At the World Championships in Antwerp (Belgium), Utimura for the fourth time in a row becomes the owner of a gold medal in the men's all-around, in certain types Utimura wins a gold medal on parallel bars, he also wins two bronze medals on the crossbar and floor exercises.

2014

In October 2014, Utimura, speaking at the World Championships in Nanning (China), again beats his rivals in the men's all-around with a score of 91.965, breaking away from his closest pursuer Max Whitlock by 1.492 points. Kouhei sets a new personal best - five times absolute champion world in the men's all-around. Uchimura also wins two silver medals: in the team final of the all-around, and in a separate form of gymnastic all-around - on the crossbar.

Personal views

Kohei Uchimura is an atheist.

Suwari taiso, or " sitting exercises are included in some (but not all) versions of Shin-do. They appear to be derived from the makko ho exercises that were developed and popularized by Nagai Haruk and his father. These taisos fall under the general category of junan taiso, and the word junan means "flexible".

The use of stretching exercises as a means of developing flexibility, achieving health and longevity is in last years a popular topic in the media, and the value of such methods is now widely recognized. Through these techniques, health can be improved through various ways, including deeper relaxation, improved circulation and increased flexibility.

Building Flexibility: Stretching Exercises

Five principles for junan taiso

1. Gradually increase the range of flexibility.

2. Relax and avoid forcibly stretching your body.

3. Follow the natural sequence of movements.

4. Maintain a natural steady rhythm that promotes oneness of mind and body.

5. Put ki into every movement.

1. Front stretch

Sit with legs extended. Point your toes toward you and push off with your heels so that your feet are bent backward at a 70-degree angle. Keep your knees straight.

Tipping your toes back stretches the muscles on the back of your legs and helps keep your knees straight during the stretch.

Sit with your back straight (at right angles to the floor), arms parallel to the floor, fingers pointing towards your toes.

Then, imagining the hara as an imaginary joint, lean forward from this point and reach for your toes in a gentle four-beat rhythm (see figure).

Stretching forward a couple of inches, bring your ki to a point behind your toes and on the floor in front of your heels.

At the end, you will be able to reach behind your toes to touch the floor. You can also try to grab onto your toes or balls of your feet and gently pull them towards you with both hands to help you reach further forward.

Don't lower your head to your knees.

In this exercise, your goal is to stretch your feet, ankles, and rear surface legs.

2. Stretching from the “legs apart” position

Spread your legs apart as wide as possible. Take your toes towards you, heels away from you and straighten your legs. Lean to the left and grab your toes with your left hand.

Keeping your back relatively straight, move your fingertips right hand over the left foot and lean to the left. Performing light, rhythmic movements and at the same time pulling up the left foot, gradually lower the head to the left knee.

Then repeat this series of movements to the right and, using the brushes, spread your legs a little wider. Look at the picture below to see this exercise. The wider you spread your legs (preferably reaching an angle of 160 °), the easier it will be to complete the next part of this exercise.

Now place your fists on top of each other with your arms fully extended on the floor in front of you. Bending at the hara point and turning the pelvis forward and down, lean forward and, in a gentle swaying motion, lower the head to touch the fists (see fig.).

Repeat the same, but this time tilt your head towards only one fist. Finally, touch the floor with your head and, if possible, with your chest.

Try to hold on to some fixed object in front of you. Using this hand support, you can gently stretch forward.

Your task is to stretch the legs, thighs, groin area and back.

3. Sitting stretch

Bring the soles of both feet together in front of the groin area. Ideally, your heels should be about the distance of your fist from your body and in line with your knees.

Take your toes and feet in your hands and keep your back straight at a right angle to the floor, shoulders down (see fig.).

Tap your knees on the floor, rhythmically raising and lowering them. Relax completely and move naturally. As flexibility increases, the knees can easily drop to the floor.

Don't force this move.

Now, to relax your groin and thighs, bend over from the hara, keeping your back almost straight, and bring your head to a point in front of your feet (see fig.).

Perform a gentle four-beat rhythmic movement as you move forward.

Since you are holding on to your toes, you can pull up with your hands, using them as a lever to move forward.

This exercise stretches the hips, groin and legs. The back is also stretched, up to the sacrococcygeal region. This was not the case in the first two exercises.

4. Seiza Twisting Stretch

Now kneel down and sit lightly on your heels in the seiza pose. Turn your arms back in a wide range, as if you were drawing an arc with your fingertips.

Turn to the left and, when you reach the most comfortable position, put your left hand on the floor.

Then gradually tilt your head toward the floor between your hands in a steady, four-stroke rocking motion.

When the head moves forward, the right hand will also touch the floor, as in the picture below.

Repeat this twist on the right side.

The seiza pose itself creates a slight stretch in the legs, knees, and ankles. Crunches increase the flexibility of the back and align the spine.

As you do the left crunch, your head will come closer to the floor and you will also feel a stretch in your left arm, left side of your chest, and left shoulder.

5. Stretching the back in seiza pose

Remaining in the seiza pose, use your hands and forearms to slowly lie down on your back. Your feet remain under your hips, palms above your head, stretch up and away from your head as shown in the picture below.

Then lift your right shoulder off the floor and twist to the left.

Then lift your left shoulder and twist to the right. Continue rolling back and forth over your shoulders and side to side.

While doing this, keep your knees together and on the floor while extending your arms fully.

This exercise stretches the hips, knees, ankles, back, abdominals, chest, shoulders, arms, wrists and fingers.

If you feel pain in your knees, place a folded towel, blanket, or pillow between your buttocks and legs.

Similarly, a blanket or towel placed between the ankles and the floor relieves ankle pain.

And if you can't fully lean back, place pillows under your back.

Then, after a few weeks, gradually remove one pillow at a time, making it easier for you to lean back.

Using your imagination, you can find other supports to help with these exercises.

6. Rocking

Sit cross-legged, lower back straight. Place your left foot in front of your right foot, which is tucked under your thigh. Leave a gap of about 20 cm between the feet.

Open your chest, lower your shoulders and look at the horizon line. Gently place the brushes on the surface of the feet.

Lean forward a little to feel the weight of the body move towards the popliteal region, and also forward and down towards the hara (see fig.).

Each part of the back, especially the lower back, will touch the floor. Be careful not to hit your head on the floor by keeping your chin tucked into your chest and stop when your feet are pointing straight up at the ceiling.

Relax your legs as you swing, allowing them to respond to centrifugal force, and let them straighten out as you lean back.

The hands slide off the feet to gently touch the tops of the knees. This will keep the legs from going too far behind the head (see picture).

When you return forward, take your chin away from your chest, look straight ahead. At the same time, begin to straighten your back and allow the hands to return to their original position, touching the feet.

At the end, return to the original position, but with one condition: change the position of the legs in the air so that when the feet touch the floor, the right foot is in this moment was in front.

The purpose of this exercise is to massage the back by swinging along the floor surface. This massage will relax and soften the muscles on both sides of the spine.

With the right leg as close as possible under the hips, lean slightly to the right, massaging along the right side of the spine. Then change the position of the legs in the air so that when returning to the starting position, the left foot is closer to the body.

As you swing forward, focus your ki in front of whatever is in front of you, allowing it to move indefinitely after the body comes to a halt. This mental image will facilitate the return to the starting position and will maintain the coordination of mind and body.

Important Points

Stretching techniques usually use one of two methods. We either stretch the body to its maximum capacity and then hold that position, or we jump up and down with a fairly large range of motion. The latter method is much more likely to lead to injuries and sprains. However, none of these conventional approaches are used in the above exercises. Instead, a gentle wiggling motion is suggested.

Extend one arm, tighten it and hold in this position. It should be easy enough to maintain tension. Extend your arm again and shake with your fingertips and hand. While you are shaking, try to tighten and lock the muscles in your arm.

After one or two such attempts, it becomes clear that it is easier to keep the muscles tense when the arm is stationary than when it is in motion: in order to move, the muscles cannot be frozen in tension.

This is a good reason to use a gentle gradual rocking motion as you lean towards the floor in exercises 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Think of it as a small slowly increasing type of movement. It runs for four beats. Every time you move, try to move forward. Sit still, return to the starting position and then move again. Make slow, gradual and continuous progress forward (see fig.).

You must pay Special attention where you are and what you are doing. As a result, this relatively small, incremental and progressive movement ensures that you are constantly thinking about the moment.

Since there is a constant forward movement, we also encourage the maintenance of a continuous projection of ki in this direction.

Don't try to become flexible overnight. You will only injure and stretch the ligaments and muscles. Therefore, the initial movements in each exercise should be performed gently, gradually stretching your body. This allows the muscles to warm up before they become more flexible.

Relaxation is very important for flexibility, and a natural rhythm can help achieve it. Again, maintain a steady steady rhythm to keep more calm state consciousness and body.

Aim for a rhythm of one heartbeat per second. You can slowly count to yourself as you lean towards the floor. If you have relaxing music that is built on a 4/4 rhythm, you can do the exercises to it. Explore the relationship between rhythm, relaxation and coordination.

You can also try exhaling as you lean towards the floor, which is in a simple way achieve relaxation. In the end, you must perform the movement in a relaxed state so that you can breathe almost normally, even if you are doing stretching exercises.

Also pay attention to the order of the exercises.. Each movement prepares the body for the next action. Reordering will lead to less efficiency, although after completing one series, you can return and work on a particularly difficult exercise. published.

Haruki Nakamura "Japanese yoga for beginners"

If you have any questions, ask them

P.S. And remember, just by changing your consumption, we are changing the world together! © econet

During the team tournament, Japanese gymnast Kohei Uchimura in the last approach fell off his horse - the most dangerous projectile in the men's program. After that there were low marks, the loss of the bronze medal by the Japanese team, a protest and, finally, a gift from the arbitrators in the form of bonuses for difficulty and an unexpected final "silver". In general, the judicial scandal.

However, in the individual all-around, Uchimura did everything to remain in the history of the Games as a hero not of a scandalous, but of a championship section. 92,690 points and Japanese absolute Olympic champion. German Marcel Nguyen is second (91.031), American Danell Leyva is third (90.698). Uchimura won for his country the fifth medal in this discipline, but the first since 1984. Only Nguyen brought a more long-awaited reward to his country. He climbed to the podium for the first time since Germany received the "gold" and "bronze" in Berlin in 1936.

In addition, Kouhei Uchimura has not given anyone the absolute title for the fourth year in a row. Although he was recognized as a record holder back in 2011, when he became the first gymnast in history to win three gold medals in the individual all-around world championships. For example, representatives of the USSR Yuri Korolev and Dmitry Bilozerchev had two victories each.

Kouhei, you started your fight in the absolute championship with a pommel horse exercise, which let you down in the team tournament. Surely they were dissatisfied with such a draw. How did you set up?

Kouhei Uchimura: I started with a horse for the first time in four years of performances at various international competitions. There was no such practice, so I did not immediately find a way out. So that was exciting. But then I decided to think not about the start of the competition, but about its completion. To put a beautiful point, I had brilliant freestyle prepared.

What is the secret of your absolute success? This is your fourth title.

Kouhei Uchimura: I'm just perfect for gymnastics. Plus, in my head I have a clear understanding of how to train, perform, recover, and rest.

Will you try to continue the winning streak at the next Olympics?

Kouhei Uchimura: I keep the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro in my head. I am only 23 years old. I want to get the most out of myself. Moreover, the dream of winning the Olympic team tournament has not yet come true.

Direct speech

Marcel Nguyen, all-around silver medalist:

Uchimura deserved this "gold". He is a three-time world champion. And now he won the Olympics. It will be difficult to catch up with him.

David Belyavsky, fifth result in the all-around:

The Japanese is a very talented athlete. What else can you say. But, despite all his titles, you can fight him, you can beat him. He is not some kind of robot, he does not perform automatically. He, too, can be nervous, make mistakes. And the qualification showed it. He got to the final with only the ninth sum of points. And I, as you remember, was the second.

Alexey Nemov, four-time Olympic champion:

Uchimura rightfully received this medal. I can't say that he performed brilliantly. But he did not make mistakes and very smoothly went through all the shells.