Rio 2016: Root for this Pokémon Go obsessed gymnast
Every day of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, Fusion is highlighting a handful of the games’ thousands of diverse athletes. They won’t always be Americans, but they will always be worthy of your cheers.
Kohei Uchimura
Japan, Gymnastics
When he’s on TV: Sat., Aug. 6th at 9:30 a.m.
Kohei Uchimura won the all-around gold medal in London in 2012, and was the runner-up in the 2008 gymnastics all-around championship. Japan is expecting the six-time World Champion to take home three gold medals: horizontal bars, individual all-around and team. But Uchimura’s true passion might just be Pokémon Go. Already, he racked up 500,000 yen (almost $5,000!) in roaming charges playing the game in Brazil, where it is not yet available. “He looked dead at the team meal that day,” teammate Kenzo Shirai said.