Kosuke Hagino finished 6th in the final of the men's 200m individual medley of swimming at the Tokyo Olympics, and the medal was out of reach for the third Olympics.


Even so, Hagino's facial expression after the race was full of fulfillment.

The final race was sent out by Japan national team coach Norimasa Hirai, who has been instructed for about nine years, saying, "Open your mind and body and enjoy yourself with all your might."

Hagino showed an aggressive swim.



The first butterfly was in 8th place at the bottom due to its strength, but the backstroke that "I decided to go" was a lap time approaching my own Japanese record that I marked 5 years ago, and I overtook 5 people to be 3rd. I went up.



Director Hirai jokingly points out that "even if you do your best, the time will not change" and retreated to 6th place in the breaststroke, which you are not good at, and the last freestyle is "desperately, even 1 mm forward". I swam all the way.



The time was 2 seconds and 42 seconds behind the Japanese record, resulting in 6th place, but Hagino with a satisfying expression smiled when Seto, who was swimming in the lanes four away, approached. We hugged each other and praised each other for their good fight.

After the race, he said with a refreshing expression, "I have no regrets because I was able to swim as I wanted."


When the path I had taken so far crossed my head, I couldn't control what was coming up.



In January of last year, when I was stuck in a slump, I set "winning a gold medal" as the goal of the Tokyo Olympics at a team meeting held at the pool of Toyo University, which is my training base.


At that time, although a representative selection meeting was scheduled three months later, Director Hirai severely pointed out Hagino's strength, which was far from the main condition, such as his physical condition worsening due to the effect of pushing himself in the year-end and New Year practice Did.


"I know how hard you worked to win the gold medal four years ago, so I can't believe it's easy to call it a gold medal.



" It wasn't just about aiming for a gold medal. I thought it was a challenge to find out what I could do and what I could do. "



After being selected as the national team at the Japan Championship in April, Hagino has been obsessed with the idea that he must produce results.


At the training camp in June, just before the opening, he was so worried that he couldn't get out of the room and sometimes took a break from practice.



Even so, I noticed something while doing qualifying, semi-finals and races on this big stage.



"Looking back, Mr. Hirai, trainers, family members, people who support me, and many people were waving behind me, and I was so happy. I felt it was. I'm really glad I was on this stage. "

At this tournament, Hagino was unable to win a medal for the first time in the third Olympics. Even so, the last race was a race that could be said to have been a consensus for Hagino.



About the future, Hagino said, "I'm feeling exhausted now, so I don't know what will happen." Whatever choice it may be, this experience of challenging the Tokyo Olympics should be a great asset.