Pokemon Go has hit an Olympian in the hip pocket

WHEREVER Pokemon Go travels, drama will follow. That was true for one unlucky Olympian preparing to compete in Rio.

A finger for every thousand dollars down the drain.

JAPANESE gymnast Kohei Uchimura experienced bill shock after being charged more than $AUD6000 for playing Pokemon Go during his stay in Rio de Janeiro in preparation for the Olympics.

The world champion and five-time Olympic medallist, one of the country’s greatest hopes to win a gold medal in Brazil, admitted he received a $6484 telephone bill for using data roaming after becoming addicted to the popular smartphone game, according to Japanese news agency Kyodo.

For those of you that don’t know, Pokemon Go is an app that requires users to visit real world locations to catch and battle Pokemon creatures via their smartphones.

Uchimura said he couldn’t believe it when he saw the amount on the bill and immediately switched to a flat daily rate of 3000 yen ($38.50) for data roaming in order to continue playing the game in Brazil.

Uchimura became the first gymnast to win six consecutive world all-around titles after his victory at last year’s world championships in Glasgow.

He is also a five-time Olympic medal winner, one gold medal in the individual category at the London Olympics and four silver medals, two in London and another two in Beijing 2008.

The augmented reality game has received global popularity since it was released in early July, but there were fears the game wouldn’t be available to athletes in Rio because, while it had launched in countries like America, Australia and New Zealand, it had not yet done so in Brazil.

However, given Uchimura’s debacle, it looks like that problem has been avoided. But the game hasn’t been without its hiccups.

Searching for Pokemon on the mat.

Just days ago Australian users were left devastated after an update of the app’s features resulted in the entire game being reset.

A number of disgruntled would-be Pokemon trainers allegedly lost three weeks of progress with the iOS and Android update of the game on Saturday.

Plenty of the game’s fans took to social media to mourn the loss of their digital friends, with some even calling for a refund of money spent along the way.

“After the update my account reset to the beginning. I lost my Pokemon and all the money I put into this game,” one user wrote.

“I’m trying to stay calm, but why did my Pokemon Go reset and I lost all my levels and Pokemon?! Anyone else have this problem?,” another said.

One gamer was apparently moved to tears.

“My Pokemon Go app was reset and I lost everything, I was level 14 and I had just caught charmander today. *actually crying*”

Talk about first world problems.

— with AAP