Hiroyuki Tomita began gymnastics at the age of eight with his mother getting him started into the sport.
22 Facts About Hiroyuki Tomita
1.
2.
Hiroyuki Tomita attended Rakunan High School and began competing in the All-Japan Highschool Games in 1996.
3.
Hiroyuki Tomita participated in the 1997 All-Japan Junior Championships with a 9th in the all-around.
4.
Hiroyuki Tomita continued to dominate the All-Japan Highschool Games, winning 1st in the all-around in 1998, and placing 1st in the events such as the high bar, the parallel bars, and the pommel horse.
5.
Hiroyuki Tomita did gymnastics drills and exercises exclusively with no weight training.
6.
Hiroyuki Tomita made his debut in world championships competition at the 2002 World Championships.
7.
Hiroyuki Tomita won the bronze medal in the men's all-around in the same competition, establishing himself as one of Japan's top male gymnasts, with his star teammate, Naoya Tsukahara, ranking only 7th in the all-around.
8.
The next year, in the 2005 World Championships in Melbourne, Hiroyuki Tomita established himself as the top gymnast in the world by claiming the all-around title.
9.
Hiroyuki Tomita's win made him the first Japanese gymnast in 31 years to win the men's World Championship.
10.
Hiroyuki Tomita went into the final rotation more than one point ahead and finished on the high bar routine, with a total of 56.698 points.
11.
Hiroyuki Tomita gave an inspired performance and won the silver, behind Chinese gymnast, Yang Wei.
12.
Hiroyuki Tomita won a silver on parallel bars, with the Japanese team winning the bronze team medal.
13.
Hiroyuki Tomita did not fare well in the all-around competition, placing 12th, with teammate Hisashi Mizutori claiming the all-around bronze.
14.
However, Japanese head coach, Koji Gushiken, announced that Hiroyuki Tomita would replace Sakamoto and compete in the all-around, owing to his experience.
15.
Hiroyuki Tomita was shown to be in pain after his fall and was later observed to be applying an ice pack to his neck.
16.
Apparently, the accident caused Hiroyuki Tomita to injure his neck, shoulder and lower back.
17.
Hiroyuki Tomita however continued with the competition and performed well in the last three events lined up.
18.
Hiroyuki Tomita cited the decline of his strength and the inability to continue performing gymnastics at a high level as the reason for his retirement.
19.
Hiroyuki Tomita competed in both the parallel bars and high bar competition.
20.
Hiroyuki Tomita was 6th at the parallel bars because of some visible mistakes.
21.
Hiroyuki Tomita started his coaching career in the spring of 2009, becoming the head coach at Juntendo University.
22.
In February 2009, Hiroyuki Tomita received official certification allowing him to judge gymnastic competitions.