At the Tokyo Paralympic Games, the men's 400m freestyle men's visually impaired class was the heaviest, and Tomita, who won the silver medal while participating for the first time, couldn't stop crying after the race.


Tomita has continued to communicate to society by proclaiming the reason for his own swimming, "to create a society that understands and recognizes each other."

The reason for the tears that the 32-year-old, who usually speaks calmly and reasonably, showed was thanks to the people around him who supported and inspired him in the past year of suffering from the corona wreck.

As a "social activist"

Four years ago, Tomita changed to the class with the most severe visual impairment as the disease progressed and became the world's top class, and it came to attract attention at once.

Tomita calls himself a "social activist," and his lifework is to disseminate information toward the realization of para-athletes and a symbiotic society.


I have conveyed my experience through various opportunities such as media, SNS, and lectures.


Even after the Tokyo Paralympics were postponed due to the influence of the new Corona, I have believed that "because we are human beings who have faced difficulties for a long time, their power will surely become more useful in a society facing difficulties."

Why do you swim ...

However, as the pros and cons of holding the Tokyo Paralympics are divided, I have come to feel that the "outgoing" that I have been particular about is becoming less reachable.


While the reason for swimming was fluctuating, I couldn't reach the Tokyo Paralympic dispatch standard record in the 400m freestyle at the Japan Championships in March, and I wasn't excited about my results as an athlete.


It was the voices of the people around me who supported Tomita who was suffering from such troubles.

At the Tokyo Paralympic Games representative selection meeting in May, when I marked a good time and decided to be the representative, I received more than 100 messages.

Tomita players


"not 's voice for the Olympic Toka Paralympic Games, support of direct delivered to me, it when I noticed again, seemed trying to do my best to concentrate on what to do with myself because there is everyone's cheering,"



the result as an athlete I realized once again that issuing it would lead to transmission to society.

"Sending" of tears of gratitude

At the Tokyo Paralympics, I decided to update my personal best in order to respond to the support of those around me.



And in the final on the 26th, he won a silver medal in a critical swim that renewed his personal best with a good tempo swim.


The moment I touched the silver medal at the awards ceremony, what came to my mind was the people around me who supported me.

"I thought it was a medal that was filled with gratitude for the support of so many people. I told as many people as possible that people with disabilities like me are taking on challenges and expanding their possibilities. I hope that people will know about it and that something will change in the right direction. ”A



year of Corona's illness, which suffered from both dissemination to society and growth as an athlete. I think that the message sent by Tomita, who overcame that and won the silver medal on the stage of the Paralympic Games, with tears of gratitude, reached many people as the strongest “transmission”.