It's not even 2012, but the next generation of talented Japanese men already seem to be a step -- er, make that a twist -- ahead of everyone else.
The Japanese have been quietly competing gymnasts likely to lead their men's team during the next quadrennium at competitions around the globe during the past few months, and all have done very well.
Seventeen-year-old Shogo Nonomura won the Stuttgart World Cup in the face of more seasoned European talent including Philipp Boy, Daniel Purvis and Marcel Nguyen. He had another strong meet at the Tokyo World Cup, where he finished fourth all-around. Based on those two performances alone, Nonomura was fourth in World Cup standings this year.
Junpei Oka, a name to remember from last year's Valeri Liukin Invitational, gained maturity and difficulty during the past 12 months. When he returned to Frisco, Texas for the 2011 Liukin Invite, he landed golds in the all-around, floor and high bar. His teammate Yu Suzuki didn't do too badly either, netting a pair of silvers on floor and vault.
A week before, Hiroyuki Imai casually won a medal of each color at the Ostrava Grand Prix.
For all that, the one bound to get the most attention is Kenzo Shirai, who showed up at the Mikhail Voronin Cup in Moscow last weekend with a you-have-to-see-it-to-believe-it quadruple twist on floor. He wasn't done after that -- Shirai's routine also included a 1.5 to Randi, a 2.5 to Rudi and a full twisting windmill side pass. Oh yeah, and he closed with a whip to triple full. (Watch the routine here).
Is Shirai the greatest twister on the planet? The title unofficially belongs to Romania's Flavius Koczi, but maybe not for long...
Anyway, the Japanese team is so loaded with talent that it will be hard for any of these guys to make the 2012 Olympics. 2016 will be a different matter, however. But good as they all are, Olympic favorite Kohei Uchimura is still only 22 years old -- and long live the king.
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