1. Japan Para Athletics in Kyoto (May 2022)

This was my first time to see Para athletics in a stadium. The most memorable scene was when Keita Sato was able to make his personal best time in the 100 m sprint, even though the record was deemed unofficial because of excessive tailwind. His calm character in the Toyota Times studio never hinted at the mesmerizing, forceful run that left such an impression. And he looked so bright and confident when he was being interviewed after the event, with his prosthetic blade proudly on his shoulder.

When his right leg was amputated as a teenager, Sato wanted to hide it first, but he was motivated and started Track and Field in high school after seeing para-athletes proudly running with their prosthetics. At this event, he was walking most proudly with no intention of hiding his right leg.

I also remember the interview I had with long jumper Ashida. He mentioned many times about the way each match progressed. He later told me about the profound world of long jump competition in general, not just as a para-athletics event. Long jump is a “game of the mind,” is what he told me.

2. U25 Wheelchair basketball Japan Championships in Toyota city (Jan. 2023)

Wheelchair basketball started getting the spotlight after Team Japan won the silver medal in Tokyo 2020.

I reported on the Japan Championship where many Japan national team members were competing, and was completely overwhelmed by the sound and the intensity. Wheelchairs were crashing into each other, and players were thrown out over and over. The players just got back up onto their wheelchairs on their own, as if nothing had happened. Three-point shots made using upper body strength only were getting “nothing but net” over and over.

I was enjoying it so much that I forgot it was being played by people with impairments when I realized that there was an able-bodied player as well.

As I mentioned before, wheelchair basketball weighs the impairments of the 5 players on the court. I asked the able-bodied player and was told that there is no sense of being the only able-bodied athlete. This was a sport that could be played regardless of age, gender, or impairments. Kids play together with players sometimes older than 60, both shooting towards the same rim on the same court. The wheelchairs in wheelchair basketball are the same as a bat in baseball: just equipment. But what I witnessed was how world-level players handle them with exceptional skill

3. Para javelin training camp in Okinawa (Feb. 2023)

Ashida talked about how crucially important the run-up is in the long jump. It is the same for the javelin throw as well. Shunya Takahashi says, “80% is run-up, 20% is throw.” Takahashi has impairments in his right arm and needs to keep a balance between his right and left side in the run-up. The javelin requires speed in the run-up and a throw at the best timing to travel far. It cannot be thrown too high nor too low. Learning that he used to be a high school baseball player, one would think it has similarities with throwing a baseball, but he said it was completely different. Baseball is thrown along sight lines, but a javelin must be released when you cannot see it. He started throwing the javelin in college, but just two years after graduating in 2022, he became the Japanese para javelin throw record holder.

We played catch with a baseball while I interviewed him. His extraordinary growth as an athlete was driven by his father’s words to “train 10 times harder than an able-bodied person.” These words helped him recover from wanting to give up playing baseball over his impairment, and his efforts made it possible for his team to play at the Koshien National High School Baseball Championship. He is going to show his fighting spirit in Paris to the father who always encouraged him to be strong.