Olympic Gymnast Racks Up $5000 Phone Bill Playing Pokémon Go in Rio

The upcoming Olympics aren’t the only games that five-time Olympic medalist Kohei Uchimura is focused on right now. The Japanese athlete, who has been called the greatest male gymnast of all time, has also embraced the Pokémon Go craze, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

After arriving in Sao Paulo for his team’s training camp, he downloaded the app and subsequently racked up $5000 worth of charges on his data plan. Despite his familiarity with international travel (he’s won 19 world championship medals), he neglected to sign up for a flat-rate plan during his time in Brazil. During his downtime from the actual gym, he managed to spend a lot of time finding Pokemon gyms. Luckily, the world-famous athlete was able to convince his mobile carrier to apply the flat-rate charge retroactively, so he didn't have to pony up the full bill—even if he was Japan's highest-paid Olympic gold medalist in 2012.

There is a lesson in this for all of us plebes, whose mobile carriers are less likely to forgive our massive data charges: Add that international coverage before you jet off.

[h/t The Hollywood Reporter]

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