Tanaka, Uchimura win Japanese titles.

In an olympic year with team selection on the line, national championships - particularly where there are a few surprises, are always worthy of international attention.

At the 2011 world championships, Japan qualified a women's team to the team final and to the olympics in 5th place. When they are consistent they can challenge the 'big 4' teams and could set up for a possible upset. Their men's team are always at the top of the world stage jostling China for domination over all other nations. Kohei Uchimura, barring injury or disaster has had one hand on the olympic gold for a while now...

Following the suit of Russia last week, Japan is also one of the earliest nations to hold their 2012 national championships, basically firing the starting gun for the selection race to the olympic team. The competition is held with 2 days of all-around competition, but with only the second day's scores counting towards the final result (reference: Gymnastics Examiner). This is probably the most accurate simulation of international competition.

There were a few surprises at the competition, Former winner of the 'Longines Prize for Elegance' winner, Rie Tanaka won the women's title with a second day all around score of 56.45 (which incidentally would have placed her 9th in the all around final at the 2011 worlds). 2nd year senior Natsumi Sasada was second. 6-time straight japanese champion and world medallist Koko Tsurumi had an error-ridden performance landing her in 7th and much hyped rookie Mai Murakami finished in 11th place.

3-time world champion Kohei Uchimura finished almost 2 points ahead of the field (92.65, second place Kenya Kobayashi scored 90.8) although he only took the event title on one of the apparatus, his progress towards London seems to be continuing smoothly however. In 2011 he won his world title with a score of 93.631, over 3 points ahead of 2nd place Philip Boy, roughly the same point margin separated 2nd-14th place, it seems it is still Uchimura.....and everyone else.

Ever the perfectionist however, Uchimura told The Japan Times : It didn't really sink in when I was on the podium. There were parts of my performance that I wasn't particularly happy with, so I felt disappointed about that more than happy about winning five titles in a row.

Uchimura is the only Japanese gymnast who already has a confirmed spot for London, the others will be named  based largely on the results of these nationals and the NHK cup in May.

Results
WOMEN

• 1. Rie Tanaka, 56.45
• 2. Natsumi Sasada, 54.45
• 3. Yumi Iizuka, 54.4
• 4. Asuka Teramoto, 53.45
• 5. Yuki Uchiyama, 53.2
• 6. Yuko Hsinchu, 53.05
• 7. Koko Tsurumi, 52.95
• 8. Mai Yamagishi, 52.35
• 9. Yu Minobe, 52.15
• 10. Wakana Inoue, 52.0
• 11. Mai Murakami, 51.3

MEN

• 1. Kohei Uchimura, 92.65
• 2. Kenya Kobayashi, 90.8
• 3. Shogo Nonomura, 90.05
• 4. Ryo Kato, 89.8
• 5. Makoto Okiguchi, 89.7
• 6. Junpei? Oka, 89.2
• 7. Kazuhito Tanaka, 89.1
• 8T. Shoichi Yamamoto, 88.55
• 8T. Hiroyuki Imai, 88.55
• 10T. Yusuke Tanaka, 88.35
• 10T. Yuyu Saito, 88.35
• 12. Koji Yamamuro, 88.0