On Monday, March 11, senior Kai Uemura boarded a plane to Stuttgart, Germany, where he would compete in the 2024 Mixed Cup. The Mixed Cup is a new type of competition where a nation selects three males and three females to compete in each event. The mixed cup was Uemura’s senior international debut where he helped the US Mixed Cup team return with another gold medal.
The Mixed Cup has an interesting format. Before the competition started, Uemura practiced on the competition equipment along with the gymnasts from other countries. On March 17, the competition began.
The Mixed Cup is made up of three rounds. In the first round, Uemura competed in just three out of his six events. This round of competition determines which teams go into the gold medal round or the bronze medal round, with higher scoring teams moving into the gold medal round and lower scoring ones moving into the bronze medal round. In these final rounds, all the teams scores are set back to zero, and they compete their remaining events in head-to-head competition against other nations.
In the end of the competition, the results of each of the competing nations are tallied. Uemura is satisfied with the results of the competition. “Team wise, we won the Mixed Cup, which is awesome. Individually, I think I did pretty well on the events that I competed in and I was really happy with what I did. Also, this was my senior debut, so I was really proud of what I was able to do on such a big stage,” Uemura said.
These successes don’t come easily to Uemura. Behind the competitive scene, Uemura practices countless hours each week at Lakeshore Academy of Gymnastics. Uemura compared his preparation for the Mixed Cup with other competitions. “It was just a lot of routines, a lot of reps, just to make sure everything was down and consistent,” Uemura said. “In February, we had a national competition where I didn’t do as well as I wanted to. I think that really motivated me and pushed me to train more so that I was ready for this competition. I think I went into Stuttgart way more prepared than I was in February, which I think really shows in the results of the Mixed Cup.”
Although a major milestone in his career, Uemura is looking beyond the Mixed Cup. In both routine and competition, Uemura is planning to excel on the international stage. “Even though I’m trying to up the difficulty in my routines, my main focus right now is in the execution standpoint and getting the execution part of my scores as high as possible. I want to make the routines I have now as good and clean as I can,” Uemura said. “I have a competition in Columbia later this month, so I’m really focusing on that right now. It’s called the Pacific Rim, and I think it’s actually more important than the Mixed Cup, which I just competed in. My goal for the end of the year is to qualify for the Olympic trials at the US championships.”
The 2024 Olympics in Paris are rapidly approaching. Uemura believes his recent competition has just begun to prepare him for the upcoming Olympics. “I think it’s super awesome that I was able to make a senior international team and do super well, which is very positive. However, Paris 2024 is very soon, and right now feels like a pretty lofty goal for me. You never know what’s going to happen, but right now I think the most important step is to get more international experience. I think that more international competitions will definitely help me get ready for maybe Paris, but definitely LA in 2028,” Uemura said.
Although competition was an important part of the Mixed Cup, that wasn’t the only memory that Uemura has from the event. “My favorite memory was definitely the crowd’s atmosphere in Germany. When I go to competitions in the US, there’s really no one in the stands other than parents and maybe some die hard fans. Still, there’s a lot of empty seats. In Germany, it was a completely packed crowd. There were no seats left in the arena, and it was a pretty huge space. It was just an electric atmosphere that was amazing to see,” he said.
Uemura has had remarkable success in gymnastics because of his determination and dedication. However, he has many support systems throughout Parker for times when he’s flying overseas, or practicing for dozens of hours per week.
Uemura balances his academics with his athletic success. “I feel that I regularly take an interest in what Kai is doing and cheer him on. I have also taught him in a few classes, and though he is a remarkable student, I think that I have been supportive of his academic success and the writing that he has crafted,” English teacher Mike Mahany said. “No matter what is going on in his life and how busy he is, he never misses assignments, and his work of all kinds is of high quality. He also seems to be on top of his practice schedule, and I have never seen him eat anything unhealthy, even when I have offered him free Mountain Dews. In short, he is a planner, a hard and determined worker, and a great and supportive classmate to have.”
