Under the gaze of "coach" Uchimura Kohei, the world/Olympic men's all-around champion was dying to bring home Japan's first team gold medal in eight years - and got it. And added his second straight individual all-around world title.
(Reuters)
Recently, Hashimoto Daiki had been all about the team ahead of Antwerp.
The now two-time world and Olympic men’s all-around champion has just about every individual accolade he’s wanted in artistic gymnastics, at home and abroad.
What had eluded the Japanese, though, is a gold medal in the team event - though that changed on Tuesday (3 October), when Hashimoto propelled his country to the podium top over the People's Republic of China.
At last year’s world championships in Liverpool, it was a silver, as it was at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
While Japan won Olympic gold at Rio 2016, as well as Athens 2004, their last triumph at the worlds dated back to 2015.
In a country where the gymnastics team event remains immensely popular and success in it heralded with enormous fanfare, it was, the missing piece in an already decorated career for Hashimoto who is only 22.
“We’ve been saying for years we want to win gold and have come up short each time,” Hashimoto told reporters at Tokyo’s National Training Center last month, after a demonstration of his six routines for the 30 September-8 October world championships.
“We have to get it done this time, and use the momentum to springboard to Paris next year.
“The five of us understand the importance of this. Hopefully, we produce the right results so people will support us next year.”
Hashimoto is coming off a brutal yet strong spring. In April just before capturing his third successive All-Japan all-around title, he revealed that he had been diagnosed with a stress fracture in his lower back early in the new year.
A month later, Hashimoto, still nursing the broken back, stormed to a three-peat at the NHK Trophy. He finally gave out in June, failing to win at the national event finals, but the mere fact that he competed was nothing short of jaw-dropping - especially when there was nothing at stake for him, having automatically qualified for Antwerp as the defending all-around champion.
Hashimoto emerged from the summer claiming to be in better shape than he was a year ago ahead of Liverpool, when he hurt his wrist after overworking himself.
In his dying pursuit of team glory, Hashimoto had a huge shoulder to lean on - that of Uchimura Kohei, the GOAT of male gymnastics and the only other Japanese to have become both world and Olympic all-around champion.
Uchimura, who last year put an end to a career that saw him win 19 medals including 10 golds at the worlds, traveled to Belgium with Hashimoto as a coach for the men’s team.
The men’s head coach, Sato Hiroaki, was the last coach Uchimura had before calling it quits. At the start of the first training camp for Antwerp in August, Sato asked Uchimura to address the team and the attitude of the gymnasts changed immediately.
“I asked him to speak about what it took for him to win on the world stage,” Sato said. “He spoke for a good 40, 50 minutes. I felt it was crucial to the team.
“He talked about how he always trained like it was a competition. He said simply having good individuals doesn’t guarantee a gold in the team.
“Uchimura himself didn’t win a team gold until his sixth world championships. He made it very clear that it’s never easy to win the team event.
“He told them what they needed to, specific about where they were coming up short. And after that, the mood of the entire group really started to change.”
No pain, no gain: Hashimoto Daiki fought through a fractured lower back in the spring.
Ever the man of details, Uchimura has fast become known to offer a fair amount of hands-on coaching to each athlete with the exception of one: Hashimoto.
Sato said the lesser advice is a sign of Uchimura’s faith and confidence in Hashimoto, who the two-time Olympic champion had always praised - even before Hashimoto topped the Games podium two years ago.
Uchimura, Sato added, also offers fewer words compared to others to deliberately put pressure on Hashimoto, closely watching how his successor to the Japanese gymnastics throne navigates his way through it.
If Uchimura is the King, Hashimoto is the Prince. The grooming of the heir is only beginning. Paris will be Hashimoto’s second Olympic appearance, his first in front of a full crowd, which will be all eyes and ears to see how far the succession will take place.
“I don’t get a whole lot of advice from Kohei-san,” Hashimoto said. “He gives a lot of advice to everyone else though. Whenever I ask him something, he usually just says, ‘You’ll be fine.’
“I’m OK with it though. I just try to figure things out on my own, in my own way but even if he doesn’t have words for me, just having him around is so reassuring.
“He’s still the best when it comes to technique. He knows better than anyone how to bring it physically, mentally. Maybe not now but if I ever have a problem, I’ll turn to him for advice, questions.
“Right now, the focus is on getting ready for Paris and figuring out what kind of a performance will be effective there. I won’t be trying to take any lessons into this meet.
“I want to win the team event ahead of Paris, I want to win the all-around. I need to get into a groove because I know the importance of momentum.”
Hashimoto jumped for joy in celebrating Japan's winning the team event in Antwerp.