Hiroyuki Tomita |
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Hiroyuki Tomita (Japanese: 冨田洋之 born Osaka Prefecture, 21 November 1980) is a Japanese gymnast. Tomita is a top Japanese gymnast with three Olympic medals from the 2004 and 2008 Olympics. His elegant gymnastics have won him many fans.
Tomita began gymnastics at the age of eight with his mother getting him started into the sport. He attended Rakunan High School and began competing in the All-Japan Highschool Games in 1996. In this first competition, he ranked 10th in the all-around. The next year saw a meteoric rise in Tomita's competition results with a 1st in the all-around. He participated in the 1997 All-Japan Junior Championships with a 9th in the all-around. 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 (which would later become his signature event), the parallel bars (where he would later win an Olympic medal), and the pommel horse. After graduating from Ronan High School, he attended Juntendo University.
Tomita made his debut in world championships competition at the 2002 World Championships. On this competition, he placed 4th in the event finals of still rings. The following year, he was a member of the Japanese men's team which won a bronze in the 2003 World Championships. He also 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.