Japan’s Keiichi Kimura Eager to Mine Gold on Home Soil at Paralympic Games
As the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games approach, Japan’s “Golden Boy” Keiichi Kimura is hard at work preparing to compete in front of a home crowd, and he is hungry for a gold medal.
Kimura, who started swimming at 10 years old and was encouraged by a teacher at his blind school to compete in Para swimming, has become a three-time Paralympian and six-time Paralympic medalist. Although Kimura has had a decorated career, he has yet to achieve his ultimate goal of winning a Paralympic gold medal.
“I’m excited to swim and win in front of my friends and family,” he said. “I’m afraid to lose, so I am training and preparing for Tokyo the best that I can.”
After competing in the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games, Kimura was encouraged to come to the United States and train with coach Brian Loeffler at Loyola University of Maryland. Loeffler was the coach of Kimura’s idol, five-time Paralympic gold medalist and fellow blind swimmer, Brad Snyder. Knowing that the next Paralympic Games would be in his home country and wanting to succeed in front of a home crowd, Kimura wanted to train with the best, so he left Japan and moved to Baltimore.
“I was disappointed with my performance in Rio. I was expected to win gold in the 100 butterfly, but I won silver,” Kimura said. “I knew I needed to change things up in order to win gold in Tokyo.”
Photo Courtesy: Keiichi Kimura
Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, Kimura had to return to Japan in March of 2020. Although his training was halted for bit due to the pandemic, Kimura is back in the pool with his sights set on the upcoming Games.
“We could not go anywhere, to training, camps, or international meets,” he said. “Now, I am just training steadily.”
With the hope of his country weighing on his shoulders and on his mind, Kimura wanted to simulate the upcoming Paralympic Games and the schedule of events he will follow. Kimura hoped to simulate the activities of the Games in order to work out his nerves and find the kinks in the system.
“In the Games, I might compete in four or five events, so last week I did a time trial with same schedule as Games,” Kimura said. “I wanted to know where I was weak and where I was strong. I was able to swim in my training pool and go home at night so that was easier than the real event but simulating the races each day was hard.”
Photo Courtesy: Keiichi Kimura
After the simulation, Kimura admitted he felt tired, but he was able to evaluate his performance and foresee areas where he needs to work in more training before the Games.
“I was perfectly dead! I need to think about which event should I swim,” he aid. “I might reduce events because my performance was down toward the end. I now know where I am strong or weak and what to work on.”
The excitement of the possibility of a gold medal is foremost in Kimura’s mind. However, he is also excited about the exposure to the disability community that the Paralympics will bring to Japan.
Kimura explained: “This is a huge chance to change our society. Disabled people will be much more visual than ever before in Japan. This will allow those with a disability to demonstrate that we are here, and we are going to perform. Able-bodied people can notice and know about the Paralympics which will allow diversity to be made.”
And if you are looking for any advice when traveling to Japan this summer, Kimura has some.
“Summer in Japan is really hot and humid,” he said. “More than Baltimore’s. Hoping all of you will enjoy! I will host!”