Glasgow welcomes Artistic Gymnastics stars for World Championships 'show'

With 14 World titles and 2016 Olympic berths on the line, the 46th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Glasgow (GBR) promise to be a first-rate showcase of Olympic stars in the making, FIG authorities said Thursday during a press conference at the SSE Hydro.

In the Men's competition, the name on everyone's lips is London Olympic champion Kohei Uchimura, the Japanese superstar who will be attempting to rewrite the record books with an unprecedented sixth consecutive World All-around title.

"I don't usually like to talk about one sole gymnast, but it's history," said FIG Men's Technical Committee President Steve Butcher. "He holds the current record for World All-around Championships won, by a lot, and obviously he'd like to extend that."

Uchimura will also be striving to help lift his team past longstanding World champion China. Japan has finished second as a team at the past four World Championships, while the Chinese men have lost only one team title in the last 20 years.

For the women, Simone Biles (USA) and the American team have arrived in Glasgow as reigning World champions. Though yet to reach Uchimura-like levels of prestige, Biles is nevertheless chasing her own piece of history: if she defends her title from 2013 and 2014, she will become the first woman ever to win three consecutive World All-around titles.

The Glasgow Worlds are unique in that they are the first where the judges will evaluate exercises seated inconspicuously off the field of play. This provides a stage-like competition space the gymnasts, a win-win for everyone, said Nellie Kim, five-time Olympic gold medallist and President of the FIG Women's Technical Committee. "Gymnastics is an artistic sport, and it should be a show," she added.

While gymnasts are scored based on what judges see in the moment, they do have the option of video replay in case of a scoring inquiry concerning the level of difficulty in an exercise. "The one thing we do not return to the video for is for execution deductions," Butcher said.

The elusive perfect 10, made famous by Nadia Comaneci and Kim at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, still exists in a routine's execution score and remains the ultimate goal of every gymnast. "My dream is to see a 10 in execution one day," Kim said. "I had hoped to see one at the London Olympics. One gymnast was very close. Perhaps we will see one at this competition."

The city of Glasgow is no stranger to Gymnastics, being a longtime organiser of a World Cup in addition to welcoming the sport's elite in the SSE Hydro at last summer's Commonwealth Games. After the success of the London Olympics and Commonwealths, Glasgow is eager to re-embrace the sport, said Councillor Frank McAveety, leader of Glasgow City Council.

"Already we've had ticket sales that are as good as can be possibly imagined," McAveety said.

The 46th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships begin October 23 with women's team and individual qualifications.

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