Uchimura Kohei bows out in front of adoring fans in Tokyo 

The crowd roared its approval one last time for Uchimura Kohei as he took his final bow in Tokyo on Saturday (12 March).

The exhibition event - named 'Kohei Uchimura - The Final' - saw the two-time Olympic all-around artistic gymnastics champion perform on all six apparatus ending with the horizontal bar.

The 33-year-old executed a Bretschneider and a Kovacs in that final routine and - while he could not nail the landing to his dismount as he did so memorably at Rio 2016 - it mattered not to the thousands inside the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnastics, many of whom had bought their tickets weeks in advance.

Among those applauding were Uchimura's former teammates including his successor as all-around champion, Hashimoto Daiki, and Kaya Kazuma.

And then, there were more cheers as the all-around legend was joyfully raised into the air by his fellow gymnasts.

'King Kohei' announced his retirement in January after collecting seven Olympic medals at four Games including consecutive all-around titles and team gold in Rio.

He is the only gymnast, male or female, to claim six straight world all-around titles, winning every global event in the discipline from 2009-2016.

“I put my heart into it to get there, so, I don’t regret anything,” Uchimura told Olympics.com in January. “More than the physical pain, it was about not being able to train harder than anyone. I came to the realisation that it wasn’t possible anymore. I took pride in my workouts being the hardest in the world. I knew it was time to go.”

Uchimura's final competitive season was something of a disappointment.

After opting to concentrate on the high bar, and arriving at Tokyo 2020 as the gold medal favourite, he slipped off the bar on a pirouetting element during the qualifying round and missed the final.

Two months later, he finished sixth in the final at the World Championships in his birthplace Kitakyushu, which turned out to be his last competition.

Despite failing to reach his previous lofty heights, he said afterwards, "I can’t begin to describe how good it feels to perform in front of a crowd. I could feel their warmth. It felt like they were waiting for me all along. The feeling was like no other."

He is one of Japan's sporting greats, and indicated in January that he will remain involved with gymnastics after his retirement, saying, "Uchimura Kohei is made of gymnastics. For that I’m grateful and I want to give back to the sport."