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David Kikuchi

1996 to 2000 Highlights: David Kikuchi's impressive showings as a junior earned him some valuable international opportunities at a young age. In 1996, he competed twice at junior competitions in Europe, winning the all-around the British Youth Team invitational (where his team finished first), and finishing second all-around in his age group at the Vienna Youth Invitational. After a fifth place showing at the 1997 Canadian Championships (his last nationals as a junior), Kikuchi earned another assignment, a trip to the prestigious Japan Junior International – a competition that has sparked many promising international careers. Kikichi finished 25th in the all-around in a field that included many future international stars, including China’s Yang Wei and Xing Aowei, Romania’s Marian Dragulescu, and the USA’s Sean Townsend - gymnasts he would later face again on the world stage.

Kikuchi then moved up to the senior level, finishing 11th at his first senior Elite Canada at the end of 1997, 12th at the 1998 Canadian Championships, 14th at 1998 Elite Canada, and 16th at the 1999 Canadian Championships. These results let him out of contention for major teams, including the 1998 Commonwealth Games and 1999 World Championships and Pan American Games – but Kikuchi’s best years would prove to be head of him. He finished off the quadrennium with a fifth place all-around at the 2000 Canadian Championships and a third place finish at 2000 Elite Canada

2001 Highlights: 2001 served as a landmark year for Kikuchi. A sixth place all-around finish at the Canadian Championships was highlighted by his strong performances on the rings – an event that had been a weakness of the Canadian men. Later that summer, Kikuchi continued to improve his all-around prowess, impressing at selection activities for the World University Games and World Championships. At the Calgary training camp to finalize the University Games team, Kikuchi earned the highest all-around score both days, showing greatly improved start values across six events compared to the Canadian Championships earlier that year.

At the 2001 World University Games in Beijing, China, Kikuchi put in an impressive performance, helping his team to an 11th place ranking, while qualifying himself for finals in the all-around and still rings events. In the all-around final, he finished in 18th place, scoring a high of 9.625 on the rings. Later in the apparatus finals he finished fifth on his speciality event, scoring 9.55. Two months later, Kikuchi headed to Ghent, Belgium, to compete at his first World Championships. There, Canada put in some impressive performances to finish in 12th place – a key ranking considering that a top 12 finish would be necessary two years later in order to qualify Canada a full team for the next Olympic Games. Individually, Kikuchi finished 41st in all-around qualifying, where his best result was a 9.425 rings score, easily the top Canadian score on that apparatus. Kikuchi finished out the year with a second place in the all-around at Elite Canada.

2003 World Championships Courtesy of Grace Chiu

2002 Highlights: 2002 would be another banner year for Kikuchi. At the Pacific Alliance Championships in Vancouver, Kikuchi helped the Canadian men’s team finish fourth, and in the apparatus finals he took a bronze medal on the pommel horse – another event that has caused the Canadian men difficulty in the past. Kikuchi’s next competition was the Canadian Championships, where he finished second – his first all-around medal at the event. This result earned him a spot on the Commonwealth Games team, where he helped Canada finish second in the team competition, where he also qualified for the finals in the all-around (where he would finish seventh) and parallel bars (where he earned Canada a silver medal). Even more international competition would follow, with the 2002 Individual World Championships in November of that year, where Kikuchi competed in the parallel bars apparatus, finishing 11th and advancing to the semi final round on the event. He finished off the year with another all-around silver at Elite Canada.

2003 Highlights: With Olympic qualification on the line for Canada, 2003 would be a landmark year for Kikuchi and his team mates. After a successful Canadian Championships (third place in the all-around, with a gold medal on rings in the apparatus finals), Kikuchi left little doubt as to whether he would make his third World Championship team. At the World Championships in Anaheim, California, Kikuchi was a key team player in Canada’s quest to qualify a full team to the Olympic Games for the first time since 1988. Clutch performances on his two best events, pommel horse and rings, contributed to Canada’s ninth place finish – one spot shy of the eight country team final – but more than assuring Canada a berth to Athens. Kikuchi’s strong result over all six events qualified him to the all-around final, where he competed with teammate Alexander Jeltkov - another landmark showing, as it had been many years since more than one Canadian man had qualified to this portion of the competition. In the all-around final, Kikuchi finished as the top Canadian in 20th place. He finished out the year with an all-around victory at Elite Canada.

2004 Olympics Courtesy of Grace Chiu

2004 Highlights: With the Olympic Games fast approaching, Kikuchi took full advantage of international opportunities early in the year, earning impressive results in several competitions. At the 2004 Olympic Test Event in Athens, Kikuchi qualified for the all-around finals where he finished 10th. He also finished fourth on the rings in apparatus finals, gaining even more valuable experience by competing in the same arena where the Olympic Games would be held later that year. Shortly after this competition, Kikuchi would travel to Hawaii with his team for the Pacific Alliance Championships. His performance in the all-around there was even more impressive, earning Canada a bronze medal while leading the team to fourth in a strong field. Kikuchi brought this positive momentum to the 2004 Canadian Championships in Mississauga, where a lead after day one of the competition left the title within his grasp. A few errors on the second day dropped him to second place, but his overall result (which included first place finishes on pommel horse and rings) left little doubt as to his Olympic status. Despite battling minor injuries, Kikuchi participated fully at the Men’s Olympic selection camp, finishing second overall and guaranteeing himself a spot on the Olympic team.

At the Olympics in Athens, the Canadian men had high expectations. Following their ninth place finish at the 2003 World Championships, a spot in team finals was in their grasp. Despite making some key improvements on certain events (in particular on the parallel bars – which would end up Kikuchi’s highest ranking event in Athens individually), and improving upon their World Championship score (221.231 to 220.617), Canada dropped to 11th place overall. Kikuchi was unable to repeat his all-around results from the previous year, after not making the Canadian men’s vault line-up. Kikuchi’s top score of 9.625 on parallel bars was the highest for the team on that event, and he also contributed greatly on pommel horse (9.412 – again a team best), and rings (9.50).

2005 - present: Kikuchi continued to compete strong in 2005, though the national all-around title eluded him (he finished third at the 2005 Canadian Championships). It was a quiet year for Kikuchi on the international circuit, with Gymnastics Canada choosing only to send Brandon O’Neill to the world championships in Australia. Kikuchi’s international highlight was a bronze medal finish at the Cancun Invitational in Mexico, where he also took second on rings and parallel bars.

In 2006, Kikuchi finally broke through with an all-around win at the Canadian championships in Quebec city, taking gold to win his first national all-around title. For good measure he also took two golds in the apparatus finals (rings and high bar). Kikuchi’s triple win at nationals came off international success at the Commonwealth Games, where he helped the Canadian men’s team take gold, as well as finishing fourth on the pommel horse.

Kikuchi shows no signs of slowing down as the 2006 and 2007 World Championships and 2008 Olympic Games approach.

David’s gymnastics: Kikuchi is one of the best all-around gymnasts in Canada but his best event is arguably rings, where he shows amazing strength skills (uprise to maltese press to planche; back roll to cross pull to maltese bounce cross) and a full twisting double layout dismount. On high bar he does a layout Voronin release and a very original dismount of double front full-out.

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