Kohei Uchimura of Japan gave the adoring home fans what they wanted Friday night, becoming the first man to win three all-around titles at the World Gymnastics Championships. Uchimura has been untouchable since winning the silver medal at the Beijing Olympics and, if his performance at the worlds is any preview, he'll move up to gold next summer in London. Uchimura had the lead after two events, leaving everyone else fighting for silver and bronze. Uchimura finished with 93.631 points, more than three points ahead of Germany's Philipp Boy. Koji Yamamuro, Uchimura's training partner, won the bronze. Uchimura had his third straight world title wrapped up at the halfway point, making high bar, his final routine, the start of his victory celebration. The crowd roared with each release move, and fans were on their feet even before his hit the landing mat. As Uchimura looked skyward and threw his arms in the air, the fans let out such a big roar it nearly lifted the roof of the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. It's been seven months since the earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeast Japan, and Uchimura said before the meet he hoped he and his teammates could give his country a lift. They came up short in the team competition, finishing with a silver, with Uchimura making some uncharacteristic errors. But on this night, he was practically perfect. Uchimura is, without question, the finest gymnast of his generation. Maybe of any generation. Not only has he not been beaten since the Beijing Olympics, no one's come close. He's so far in front of the pack he was atop the standings after just two events, ahead of even the gymnasts who'd gone on vault, which artificially inflates scores. By the time Uchimura got to vault, he led by almost six-tenths of a point.“I think Uchimura is, at the moment, really the best,” Boy said last week. “I'm in the wrong age, I think.”
