Japan, with Shuhei Tada, Ryota Yamagata, Yoshihide Kiryu, and Yuki Koike in the final of the men's 400m relay on land at the Tokyo Olympics on the 6th, is the most confident so far. I made a mistake with the baton pass and ended up withdrawing on the way.

What was the cause of the unexpected ending is struck by the words of the parties.

A mistake with a baton pass that you are good at

Shuhei Tada in the first run couldn't stand for a while, holding his head and sitting down after not connecting the baton to Ryota Yamagata in the second run.

From Tada to Yamagata, who said he had never made a mistake in practice.


However, the mistake came out on the biggest stage.



Even so, Yoshihide Kiryu, who ran three races, protected his companion who dropped his shoulder after the race.



"I wasn't aiming for anything other than a gold medal. No one can blame me because it's the result of my attack."

The advance plan is "attack with a baton pass"

Japan had the slowest qualifying time of 38.16 seconds among the eight teams that advanced to the final.

The night before, coach Hiroyasu Tsuchie, who leads the team, gathered players in the Olympic Village room and set out two things: to attack with a baton pass for the final race and to improve individual running ability.



[Target time: 37.50]



Based on the fact that the United States was eliminated in the qualifying, we dared to use a time 7/100 seconds later than the Japanese record as an index for the gold medal.



Coach Tsuchie also found a chance that the final was on the outermost 9 lanes.


Tada, who is good at starting, jumped out and took the lead by Kiryu in the third run, putting pressure on the countries in the inner lane and drawing a race plan to escape as it is.

The result of attacking the last-minute line

According to the plan, Tada, who took the first run, decided the start dash and greeted the baton pass with Yamagata while pulling away Italy in the inner lane that won the gold medal.



Yamagata started about 20 cm wider than the qualifying.


However, it was not possible to connect the batons within the 30-meter delivery section.

As a result of attacking the last-minute line, the final race ended in just over 10 seconds.


After the race, Tada squeezed out a voice saying, "I'm in good shape. I'm sorry I didn't connect because of my lack of ability." Yamagata said, "Is the reality in front of me? It takes time to accept." I told you.

With regret for the Paris tournament

For the past five years, he won the silver medal at the last Rio de Janeiro Games and continued to run aiming only for the gold medal. The result of maximizing the attack on the production stage was too cruel.



Italy's winning time, which won the gold medal, is "37.50".


There was no mistake in what I aimed for.



Still, this is not the end.


Anchor Yuki Koike spoke with a firm eye on the front after shedding tears.



"Don't forget your regrets, I'll drag this feeling. When the day comes when everyone can raise their hands and be happy." With



immense regrets in mind, not only the four but also the members who couldn't run this time Team Japan will look forward and aim for the top again in Paris three years later.