Gymnast Kenzo Shirai, who helped Japan capture team gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics, announced his retirement on Wednesday.
The sudden news came a couple of weeks after the national apparatus championship in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture, where he failed to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.
Shirai said that he had planned to make the year of the Tokyo Olympics his final one as a competitor right after the 2016 Rio Games — where he won bronze in the individual vault in addition to the team event — and insisted that he has no regrets over his decision.