The 33-year-old who put together an unprecedented run of 40 successive tournament victories between 2008 and 2017 made one last appearance in an event dubbed "Kohei Uchimara the Final" in company with nine team-mates and in front of a crowd of around 6,500 including his mother and father, Kyodo News reported.

Uchimara, the first gymnast to win every major all-around title in an entire single Olympic cycle, accomplishing this feat twice by winning six world titles - from 2009 to 2011 and from 2013 to 2015 – and two golds at the Games, performed on each apparatus for the first time since August 2019, when he suffered serious shoulder injuries.

"I really want to say thank you to everyone who supported me up till this day," he said after being tossed in the air six times by other guest gymnasts, including Kenzo Shirai, with whom he won team gold at Rio 2016, and Tokyo 2020 all-around champion Daiki Hashimoto.

"It's been 30 years since I started gymnastics, and there's only been arduousness.

"But the joy of winning with my Japan teammates here, as well as individually, and that of learning new techniques eventually began to eclipse that.

"My entire body has been aching since I've finished.

"Half of me is saying it was a good call to retire, the other half says I can still carry on."

Uchimura, who also won an Olympic team gold at Rio 2016, competed at last summer’s home Games in the horizontal bar after recovering from coronavirus  but failed to qualify for the final.

"I'm giving myself a mark of 60 [out of 100]," he said.

"I was made aware again of how gruelling it is to compete on six apparatuses.

"It was frightening to think I used to do them perfectly.

"I wanted to carry on forever, but my horizontal bar wasn't so great at the Olympics and World Championships last year, and today also.

"I had felt it was about the right time."

The 20-year-old Daiki Hashimoto, winner of the men’s all-around title at Tokyo 2020, paid tribute to Uchimura.

"As long as I live, I'll never forget performing together on the horizontal bar in your final performance," he said. 

Uchimara is now looking forward to a new chapter in his life.

"I've seen many people crying, but I'm really positive as I see this as not an end but a new step," he said.

"I can still move and will convey to younger gymnasts how to pursue techniques in ways only I can offer.

“I want to be the one who knows most about gymnastics.

“I want to research it, popularise it and increase its value within society.

"I've enjoyed one happy career as a gymnast."