Para swimming Swing fighting against the rapidly growing world is September 16th 9:25
The World Championship of Para Swimming in the United Kingdom ended after a seven-day schedule, and Japan won 14 medals, including three gold medals. However, in the world, young players quickly emerged and became a place to show a big difference. A strong pitch will be required for the Tokyo Paralympics that will be approaching in a year.
The first two players to win the gold medal
If it is a gold medal, the world championship will be decided as the representative of the Tokyo Paralympics. The Japanese team won 14 medals, including 3 gold medals, 7 silver medals, and 4 bronze medals.
In the intellectual disability class, 18-year-old Naohide Yamaguchi won a new world record with a 100-meter breaststroke, and 20-year-old Tokai Hayashi University won a gold medal with a 200-meter personal medley. Veteran teams were also inspiring for the first two contestants, and they won a new record in the 100-meter butterfly, which is also an ace in Japan by Keiichi Kimura, who is also blind.
Time is good but money not to reach
Takayuki Suzuki, who has competed in the four consecutive Paralympic Games, won medals in all five events. Of these, in the third event, we showed a refreshing swim to renew our personal best, but four silver medals and one bronze medals did not reach the gold medal.
Japan representative Fumiyo Minemura can appreciate that many players have updated the best, but he said that there were some events that he could not reach where he was aiming for, but he was unable to get the gold medal. did.
The rise of young people overseas
What are the reasons for the failure to win the gold medal? Many players said the rise of young overseas players. Compared to the fact that the average age of the 14 Japanese national teams was about 27 years old, the average age of overseas players who won gold medals in Japanese athletes' events was about 23 and 4 years younger.
In the 200-meter freestyle where 32-year-old Suzuki participated, Suzuki himself showed a swim in the heart that surpassed the world record for more than 2 seconds, but the Russian 21-year-old player further updated the world record and won the championship Played.
Suzuki said, “Young players are newly appearing overseas. There is a difficulty to fight against players who are over 10 years old.” Italy, which won 22 gold medals, the most in the medal ranking of this tournament, was particularly prominent in the rise of young players and earned medal numbers. An official from the Italian team said, “Strengthening and training over a long period of about 10 years has paid off.”
Correlation diagram of the world we have seen
On the other hand, it is said that there was a harvest that Japan gained. Director Minemura says that “I have found a correlation diagram of the countries that are fighting for the Tokyo Games”.
Not only Italy, which has been growing rapidly, but Russia, who was not allowed to participate in the Rio de Janeiro Paralympics due to a national doping problem, returned to the world stage and jumped to the third place in the ranking of 18 gold medals. It was.
The UK, which has 19 gold medals and ranked 2nd in the medal ranking, has continued to perform well, following the players who were active in the 2012 London Paralympics.
It was possible to know the current situation of the country where Japan fights at the Tokyo Paralympics.
“Selection and concentration” and “Young”
Now that the world is visible, how can Japan win?
Director Minemura said, “Because we are aiming to be the top in the world, we want to strengthen the players who can aim for medals first” and “select and concentrate” on the events that can be won in the world.
Another thing that Director Minemura expects in Japan is the inspiration for young people. From the 21st of this month, Japan's largest competition, Japan Para Swimming, will be held, and many young players who could not participate in the World Championship will participate. He talked about how young people appear to be able to get close to the world's top class.
To what extent can Japan feel the difference with the world and approach the world in the last year? Targeted reinforcement and younger growth are key.