Six months after the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics Top players retired from active duty and abandoned one after another

Six months after the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics Top players Retired from active duty and abandoned one after another September 24, 17:30

Among the top athletes aiming for the Olympics, there are a number of athletes who retire from active duty or abandon the Olympics during the six months from March when the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics was decided.

At badminton, Ayaka Takahashi, who won the gold medal at the last Rio de Janeiro Olympics and women's doubles, announced her retirement last month and said, "I was worried that I could keep feeling for another year."

In addition, Risa Shinnabe, who contributed to winning the bronze medal of the London Olympics in volleyball and was selected as the representative of Japan aiming for the Tokyo Olympics, Yukei Osaki who participated in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in basketball, and 4th in the Beijing Olympics in trampoline. Tetsuya Sotomura, who won the prize, decided to retire from active duty after the one-year postponement of the Tokyo Olympics.

In rugby sevens, Kenki Fukuoka, who played an active part in last year's Rugby World Cup, gave up participation in the Tokyo Olympics in order to prioritize going on to become a doctor, and Yusaku Kuwazui, who was the captain of the Japanese national team at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Yusaku also gave up.

"Mama athlete" who decided to retire "Very disappointing"

Yuka Mamiya (30), a former Japanese national basketball player, and Yuka Mamiya, a maiden name, announced their retirement on their SNS in August.

Osaki played an active part as the main player of the Japanese national team for about 10 years with the high scoring ability under the goal making the best use of the height of 1 meter 85 cm.

In international competitions, he contributed to the third consecutive victory in the Asian Championships and the advancement to the final eight of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, and in the domestic W-League, he won the 10th consecutive victory as the main player of JX-ENEOS.

Osaki got married in 2016 and gave birth to his eldest daughter, Eiki, in December 2018.

After leaving the competition for about two years, he returned to active duty with the aim of becoming a representative of the Tokyo Olympics, and this year he became a representative of Japan at the international competition held in Belgium in February.

In the basketball world, it is unprecedented for a top player who has experienced the Japanese national team to return to the competition after giving birth, and Osaki explains the reason for the challenge.

"When I went on an overseas expedition, I saw a babysitter and a baby on the courtside. Even in Japan, instead of leaving the competition after giving birth, I am creating an environment where I can return even if I give birth. I thought it would be useless. It is absolutely meaningful to take on the challenge as a mother. ”

However, it was difficult to secure a place to deposit the child when returning to the competition.

My husband is an office worker and goes to work every day, and my parents who live in the same Kanto area also work, so I can not receive support on a daily basis.

I searched for a nursery school, but there was no room, so I worked hard to practice while using a temporary childcare facility that costs about 1000 yen per hour, about 6 hours a day, 5 days a week.

Furthermore, during the representative training camp and overseas expedition, he left his child at his husband's parents' house in Kagawa prefecture for about three weeks.

In the midst of that, it was decided to postpone the Tokyo Olympics in March.

As a 30-year-old player, Osaki decided to retire because of the difficulty of maintaining his physical strength and technical skills, as well as the difficulty of establishing a child-rearing support system for another year.

Osaki said, "When I originally decided to return, I decided that I could go with a short challenge of half a year. It was not my desire to aim for the Olympics for another year while holding my daughter. It puts a lot of strain on me and I regret not being able to keep an eye on my daughter's growth. "

In the SNS that announced his retirement, Osaki revealed in his heart, "If you don't have a corona, you'll feel regret that you can't hit it."

When asked about that thought again, "I'm very sorry that I could have given courage to the mothers in the world if I participated in the Tokyo Olympics. I want to leave some results as a" mama athlete "to do it. I was thinking, so the only thing that ended halfway was "Chikusho," "he said.

After that, he said, "It's a little bit, but I think I've closed the starting line for" mama athletes, "so I'm glad I challenged my juniors to deepen their path and move on."

"I chose to give up, but I think it's hard and hard for active athletes who have to keep running. I think it's really tough for athletes to reach uncertain goals, so I stopped because of the postponement. To be honest, I can't even speak a word, "said the athletes who are still striving for the Tokyo Olympics.