Kohei Uchimura, a Japanese gymnastics superstar, has issued an NFT collection to celebrate his retirement. Uchimura will be able to pursue his aspirations even when he retires, owing to the NFTs. The NFTs will also act as a reminder of some of the athlete’s most memorable moments and memories. The first NFT in the series was made by Dai Tamura, a well-known artist, and illustrator.
Everything you need to know about Kohei Uchimura and Dai Tamura in one place.
The ‘Memorial Art of Gymnastics Legend’ NFT depicts Kohei Uchimura’s landing. Tamura wanted to depict in the artwork how Uchimura “wowed his audience” with his landings during his career. By immortalizing the last moments of Uchimura’s performance, the NFT wishes to remind admirers of his many achievements and honors.
Tamura has also used several techniques from Uchimura’s 2014 World Gymnastics Championships performance as a background. It was his sixth championship victory in a row. Furthermore, the sculpture has aspects that are in opposition with one another—some are static, while others are moving.
“I thought that gymnastics was only possible when you can do six apparatus rotations, but what particularly impressed everyone watching, including myself, was the moment when I landed perfectly from the bar,” said Kohei Uchimura. “The posture of the landing and the new moon somersault of the stretching body are the things I have been particular about and have been working on…I can only thank you [Tamura] for turning my obsession into a piece of NFT art.”
The auction for Kohei Uchimura’s limited edition NFT is now happening on OpenSea. The first offer is 12.5 ETH (about $36,000). In addition, a percentage of the proceeds will be donated to “Never Stop Playing Sports,” a non-profit that assists student-athletes.
