Tokyo Weekender August 2016

compatriot Rie Kaneto, who currently
boasts the fastest time the world this
year. Other names to look out for include
world record holder Rikke Møller Pedersen
(Denmark), Viktoria Güneş (Turkey)
and Taylor McKeown (Australia). Highly
fancied Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova
is set to miss out after testing positive for
meldonium. Watanabe will also be competing
in the 4 x 100 m medley and the
100 m breaststroke. She isn’t as strong
over the shorter distance, but is in with a
chance of a medal.
JULIAN WALSH, 19
(TRACK & FIELD)
In the late 80s/early 90s Jamaican
Emmanuel Walsh made a bit of name
for himself in Japan as a reggae singer
and entertainer. Now it’s the turn of his
son Julian to step into the limelight as
the Kingston-born sprinter gets set to
represent his mother’s homeland in the
400 m at this summer’s Olympics. The
Toyo University student, who moved to
Japan when he was three, didn’t take up
athletics until high school. He showed
great early promise in the 100 m, but soon
after switched his focus to the one lap
race, also known as “the killer sprint.”
In May this year he created surprise
when he defeated former Olympic champion
Jeremy Wariner and Trinidadian
Jarrin Solomon to win the 400 m race at
the Seiko Golden Grand Prix in Kawasaki.
A few weeks later he ran a personal
best 45.35 at the National Championships
to book a place on the plane to Rio.
Reaching the semi-finals in Brazil would
be seen as a great achievement. Walsh
is joined in the Japan squad by fellow Jamaican-born
sprinter Asuka Cambridge,
who’ll race in the 100 m.
MIMA ITO, 15
(TABLE TENNIS)
By the time she was two, Mima Ito was
able to return her mother’s serve. At 10
she became the youngest person to win a
match at the Japanese senior table tennis
championships, and entered the Guinness
Book of Records when she was 12 for the
most counter-hits (180) in one minute. In
2014, Ito along with partner Miu Hirano –
both 13 at the time – became the youngest
ever winners of an ITTF World Tour title
when they triumphed at the German
Open. Twelve months later at the same
tournament the Shizuoka-born phenom
won the singles competition, again the
youngest female in the history of the
sport to do so. The ITTF’s “Breakthrough
Star of the Year” in 2015, she recently
defeated world number two Ding Ning at
the Asian Olympic Qualifiers. In Rio she’ll
be competing in the team competition
alongside Ai Fukuhara and Kasumi Ishikawa.
Japan hopes to go one better than
four years ago, when they won silver, but
getting past the formidable Chinese could
prove an uphill task.
AKANE YAMAGUCHI, 19
(BADMINTON)
The doubles pairing of Ayaka Takahashi
and Misaki Matsutomo represents Japan’s
best chance of a badminton gold in Rio,
though in the singles competition two
young names worth looking out for are
21-year-old Nozomi Okuhara; the first
Japanese female for 39 years to win
the prestigious All England Open, and
teenage prodigy Akane Yamaguchi. The
latter is the youngest Japanese shuttler to
have qualified for the Olympics. She has
reached three World Junior Championship
finals, winning two of them, and in
2013 became the first Japanese female to
triumph at a BWF Super Series tournament
on home soil. She’s the only teen in
what promises to be a tough, but also open
competition. Spain’s Carolina Marin is the
favorite, closely followed by Chinese pair
Wang Yihan and defending champion Li
Xuerui. Okuhara and Yamaguchi, ranked
6th and 10th respectively, could be good
outside bets for a medal.
Lightning Round
The two most successful athletes in
the history of women’s wrestling,
Kaori Icho and Saori Yoshida are
both aiming to become the first
females in history to win individual gold
medals in four consecutive Olympic Games.
Given their extremely busy schedules,
Weekender was afforded just 60 seconds
to speak with the two legendary wrestlers.
FIRSTLY, WHY WRESTLING?
SY: My father – who tragically died two
years ago from an acute subarachnoid hemorrhage
while driving to a training camp
– organized a club that I decided to join with
my brother. He was so supportive of my
career, along with everyone in my family.
KI: Like with Saori, it was a family connection.
My brother and sister were both
wrestlers so I started with them aged three.
My sister Chiharu also wrestled at the 2004
and 2008 Games [she won two silvers].
CONSIDERING YOUR DOMINATION
[YOSHIDA’S LOST JUST TWICE, ICHO
WENT UNBEATEN FOR 13 YEARS], HOW
DO YOU STAY SO MOTIVATED?
SY: Family, friends, people around me. They
give me that impetus to keep on improving.
KI: For me it is all about continually developing
my technique. That’s more important
than medals or glory.
WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR RIO?
KI: I just hope it’s a secure event without
any anxieties.
SY: A fourth gold medal. That is all I am
thinking about.
WHO DO YOU THINK WILL BE YOUR BIG-
GEST CHALLENGER THIS SUMMER?
KI: Well it’s the first time to have the 58 kg
category at the Olympics so I see everyone
in the division as a potential rival.
SY: Myself.