Olympic Athlete Racks Up $5,000 Phone Bill Playing Pokémon Go in Rio
An Olympic star gymnast recently racked up a $5,000 phone bill trying to take home the Pokémon Go title in Brazil.
Last week, Kohei Uchimura, the reigning Japanese Olympic gold medalist, landed in São Paulo, Brazil. While he was settling into his new surroundings, Uchimura decided to play Pokémon Go so he could get closer to his goal of becoming a Pokémon master.
Though Pokémon Go is available in Uchimura’s home country of Japan as well as a number of other countries, it isn’t in Brazil. Other athletes and fans have expressed their disappointment of being unable to play during the Olympics in Rio this year.
In regions where Pokémon Go isn’t available, users are greeted with a map with no actual Pokémon to catch. Basically, it’s a sad and empty land.
More unfortunately for Uchimura, he learned that he had racked up a 500,000 yen, or $4,954, phone bill from roaming charges trying to play Pokémon Go.
His teammate Kenzo Shirai commented:
“He [Uchimura] looked dead at the team meal that day.”
Thankfully for Uchimura, after talking it out with his wireless carrier he was able to reduce the amount to $30. Uchimura said:
“I really lucked out. ”
Uchimura is set to compete in men’s all-around gymnastics on Aug. 6.
h/t: Los Angeles Times
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