18-year-old Takeru Kitazono, who finished fifth in the men's individual all-around final for gymnastics.

"Is there such a difference from the world even if I put out the best I can do now?"

After all the performances, Daiki Hashimoto was pleased with the gold medal, and Kitazono, one year younger than Hashimoto, was making a difference with the world.

"Like a sponge" Represented by rapid growth

Kitazono has been devoting himself to gymnastics, dreaming of a gold medal at the Tokyo Games, since he was in the fifth grade of elementary school when the Olympic Games were decided to be held in Tokyo.

Hideki Umemoto, director of Osaka Seifu High School, who has been teaching since junior high school, said that he initially thought, "I shouldn't overdo it until the time of the Tokyo Games so as not to crush the future, and the Olympics should start from Paris." , Kitazono himself has aimed only at the stage without hanging the goal at all.



What is amazing is its growth speed.

The more director Umemoto said, "It's like a sponge," the quicker he learned the technique, and he made more and more difficult techniques his own.

At the Youth Olympic Games held in 2018, when he was in his first year of high school, he won five gold medals, including an individual overall, and surprised the people around him.

At last year's All Japan Championship, he jumped to 2nd place overall, and became a member of the competition for the representatives of the Tokyo Games.



After entering this year, Kitazono challenged even more difficult techniques such as Yuka's G difficulty "Ri Jong-song", and when he was about to be selected as a representative, he "became a level that can be used in the game". I'm coming. "

However, although he was injured in his elbow at the All Japan Championship in April and was subsequently selected as a representative, he was unable to incorporate all the techniques he had prepared for the Olympics in a situation that was not perfect.

In the individual overall, Kitazono performed in all six events without major mistakes, but Hashimoto did not reach nearly two points.



Kitazono said, "I was able to stand on the stage I've been aiming for all the time, but I felt that there was something that made me feel uncomfortable just by going out. I want to be such an ace that I can get to win a gold medal. "



Hisashi Mizutori, the men's national team coach, said to Kitazono, "I think I was really disappointed, but I think he will chase after Hashimoto and become the strongest two signboards."



What kind of growth will be achieved by the Paris tournament three years later based on this experience? Expectations are rising for Kitazono in the future.