Tokyo 2020: Olympic gymnasts ready to make their marks
- Former world champion Morgan Hurd leads a fresh batch of athletes hoping to challenge for gold
- Japan’s Takeru Kitazono dominated at last Youth Olympic Games alongside Italy’s Giorgia Villa
There are some events and disciplines on show at the Olympics that are harder to fathom than others. Most people have run for a bus so it’s not impossible to imagine what the 100m would feel like. Like not making it on to the No 63 but much, much faster.
Gymnastics on the other hand consists of things that most people cannot do, done with aplomb and then made even more impossible to comprehend by being combined into routines that defy gravity as much as belief.
In Tokyo 2020 there will be some of the biggest names in the sport on show – the all-conquering Simone Biles is expected to compete once more – but the brief window that comprises most gymnastics careers means we will also have to get used to some new faces on the floor.
Thankfully for gymnastics fans, there are many proven names even in the new batch.
Takeru Kitazono (Japan)
The star of the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Kitazono returned from Argentina with five golds. That was a first for an artistic gymnast at the youth games, with his five medals coming in the all-around, floor, rings, parallel bars and horizontal bar events. The 18-year-old is seen as the heir apparent to Japanese gymnastics legend Kohei Uchimura and with both set to be on show in Tokyo the baton could be passed this year.