Four new men and women have been appointed as representatives of the Tokyo Paralympics for para-swimming, including Hirotomo Nakajima, who won the bronze medal at the previous Rio de Janeiro Games.

The Japanese national team for para-swimming has 27 participants in the Tokyo Games, 23 have been unofficially decided by the selection committee last month, and the remaining 4 have not been classified to determine the degree of disability, so they are put on hold. It was.



Of these, Mito Utsuki and Eisho Minami, who are in the motor dysfunction class, have been nominated as representatives of the Tokyo tournament as a result of being divided into classes at the international tournament in Germany by the 20th.



On the other hand, Daiki Kubo and Ryosei Nagano were not able to meet the participation criteria as a result of the classification, and the competition group decided to move up from the substitute players.



The two new representatives are Hirotomo Nakajima, who won the bronze medal at the Rio de Janeiro Games in the intellectual disability class, and Satoshi Miyazaki, who will participate in the two Paralympic Games in a row.



With this, all 27 Japanese national teams for para-swimming have been decided.

Mito Utsuki

Mito Utsuki is 18 years old from Kyoto.



This is the 8th most severe class of the 9 classes of breaststroke motor dysfunction.



From the time I was born, my right arm had no elbows, and my parents recommended me to start the competition in earnest from junior high school students.



After graduating from high school this spring, I went on to Osaka University of Health and Sport Sciences in order to balance the path of becoming a teacher, which is my dream for the future, and competition.



The main event is 100-meter breaststroke, which won the gold medal at the 2018 Asian Para Games.

Eisho Minami

Eisho Minami is 18 years old from Moriyama City, Shiga Prefecture.



This is the class with the least motor dysfunction.



From the time I was born, I had no tip from my left ankle, so I started swimming at the age of 5 and started swimming in the third year of junior high school.



After graduating from high school this spring, I entered Kinki University, a strong swimmer, and I am good at butterfly strokes, which I actively set up from the first half.



At the Japan Para Tournament in May, he broke the Japanese record in the 50m and 100m freestyle and the 100m butterfly.



This is my first time to participate in the Paralympics.

Hiraku Nakajima

Hiraku Nakajima is 22 years old from Narashino City, Chiba Prefecture.



This is a class of intellectual disabilities.



I started swimming at the age of 3 with the idea of ​​my mother trying to improve her resistance because she was weak.



Armed with his powerful strokes, he made his first appearance in the Rio de Janeiro Paralympics when he was in the third year of high school, and won the bronze medal in the 200-meter individual medley.



After that, I got a job at a company that actively employs para-athletes, and I have been strengthening it while balancing work and practice.



The Paralympics will be the second consecutive tournament.

Satoshi Miyazaki

Satoshi Miyazaki is 28 years old from Sapporo.



This is a class of intellectual disabilities.



He started going to the pool with his mother when he was six months old.



I am not good at sudden changes in schedule, and when the Tokyo tournament was postponed for one year due to the influence of the new coronavirus, it became difficult to control my feelings, but I strengthened by wearing a new form that is less susceptible to water resistance I have been advancing.



I participated in the Paralympics for the first time at the last Rio de Janeiro Games, but I couldn't advance to the final with my favorite 200m freestyle, so I'm going to be humiliated at the second Tokyo Games.