Kohei UCHIMURA of Japan won a record fifth straight all-around gold medal at the 45th Worlds of artistic gymnastics in Nanning, China. Uchimura, who led every event except the pommel horse, sealed the title with 15.233 points on the horizontal bar to finish with a total of 91.965 points.
Max WHITLOCK of Britain took silver with 90.473 points, and Yusuke TANAKA of Japan claimed bronze with 90.449.
The 25-year-old Uchimura has won every all-around title since the 2009 world championships in London. Oleg Verniaiev of Ukraine was fourth with 90.298 points, followed by David Belyaskiy of Russia with 89.765. Uchimura became the first gymnast, male or female, to win four world all-around titles last year in Antwerp, Belgium, breaking a tie with Svetlana Khorkina of Russia.

   Max WHITLOCK has continued his meteoric rise to the top of the sport by winning a fantastic silver medal !
Whitlock was only handed a place in the final following the withdrawal of British team-mate Nile Wilson due to a wrist injury, but the Adeyfield man seized the opportunity with both hands. Having endured a shaky time in qualifying and missed out on each of the individual finals, Whitlock was clearly determined to get back to his best and show the world what he could do:
His way to the silver medal...:
- The double Olympic medallist from London 2012 started with a scintillating pommel horse routine which handed him a fantastic score of 16.00 and first place overall on the leaderboard after the first rotation.
- He then moved onto rings – one of his least favoured pieces of apparatus – and put in a solid display to score 14.466 which was good enough to keep him second overall behind Japanese superstar Kohei Uchimura.
- Next up was the vault, and Max was on top form once again to score an excellent 15.366, executing the triple twist which he has been working so hard on in training with coach Scott Hann. That kept him in second place overall in the standings, but with Colombia’s Calvo Moreno breathing down his neck in third place.
- The fourth piece of apparatus for Whitlock was the parallel bars–- again not one of his favourites – and his near faultless performance continued as he scored 14.975.
- This was, however, not good enough to keep him in second place in the standings as he was leapfrogged by Ukranian gymnast Oleg Verniaiev; Whitlock slipping to third place but with a medal still very much in his sights.
- Onto the high bar, and nerves perhaps started to show for the first time as a few small errors crept into Whitlock’s performance, resulting in a score of 14.200 which saw him slip into fourth place behind Belyavskiy of Russia.
- That meant everything rested on his floor routine and Whitlock was at his imperious best as he delivered a tornado of twisting tumbles to score 15.466 and give himself a real medal chance with a total score of 15.466 to move into top spot. It was then a nervous wait for Whitlock and his army of British supporters as the rest of the competitors attempted to prize the medal from his grasp, but the hero held on for a superb silver, with final performer Uchimura deservedly taking gold.

  Yusuke TANAKA (JPN)  - the 24 years old student, who was also a member of the Japanese Olympic Silver Team at the Olympic Games London 2012, moved up from sixth place in the preliminaries up to third place now, exceeded the 90 points limit (90,449) and won with bronce the second individual all-around medal for his country.

Yusuke TANAKA, Kohei UCHUMURA - Silver and Gold for Japan!

♦♦ Historical Preview -- Initial Situation before ...:
Even today the basic facts will not change: The Crown of modern artistic gymnastics will probably remain firmly in Asian hands!
Again, the exceptional athlete on this planet, the incomparable Japanese Kohei UCHIMURA with his technical best solutions sends to continue his reign as already 4x-winning all-around world champion today again to the fifth time  ...

And not only that:
In all previous nine World Championships in the new millennium, there were - with one exception - only Asian champion:
This exception was the US-American Paul HAMM (2003, Anaheim), before and after it went any Worlds all-around gold to Asia:
2001 in Ghent FENG Jing (CHN), 2005 in Melbourne Hiroyuki TOMITA (JPN), then 2x the extraordinary Chinese YANG Wei (2006, Aarhus and 2007, Stuttgart).

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Since then ruled "King" - yeah, right - K a i s e r  Kohei UCHIMURA, the previously 4x crown since 2009, and have never had to pay a hint of doubt, that he did not even today it's up to now the fifth time in a row. Not only the experts registered the virtuoso technical best solutions this miracle movement, but also the interested layman recognizes the aesthetic lines and harmonious movement patterns in space, when this extraordinary athlete celebrates his exercises ...

... and what else in the new millennium balance?
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From the coveted further 16 medal rankings in the all-around behind these champions also almost a half (7) has been used also by Asian gymnasts since 2001.
The few others, equally gifted body from the "rest of the world" but this fall on particularly:
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The only two-time runner-up behind the Asian super power nations Japan and China was the Lusatian Philipp BOY from Germany (Cottbus) at the 2010 Worlds Rotterdam) and 2011 (Tokyo) who next moved to "Kaiser" Uchimura - but then, unfortunately, too early for many, his playing career ended.

But there is another German, with absolute all-around and upright stayer qualities: