Japan’s Takeshi Matsuda announced his retirement Monday at a news conference in Tokyo. Matsuda swam in four Olympic Games, swimming in at least one final in Athens, Beijing, London and Rio, and he ends his career with four Olympic medals and three from the World Championships.
“I have no regrets,” Matsuda said, according to the Japan Times. “I came up short with regards to winning a gold medal at the Olympics, but I cherish every single one of the four Olympic medals I won and they represent who I am.”
Matsuda made his first Olympic final as a 20-year-old in Athens, where he finished eighth in the 400 free. But the 200 fly quickly became Matsuda’s best event, and he earned a silver medal in that event at the World Championships a year later.
In Beijing, Matsuda became just the third man to ever crack the 1:53-barrier in the 200 fly as he earned a bronze medal behind Michael Phelps and Laszlo Cseh. Matsuda picked up another bronze in the event at the 2009 World Championships and then a silver in 2011 (Phelps won gold in both), and then he finished third in an extremely tight 200 fly final at the 2012 Olympics where Chad le Clos won gold.
Matsuda also picked up a silver medal from London when he swam the fly leg on Japan’s 400 medley relay, and he added one final medal in Rio when he held off Australia for a bronze in the 800 free relay.
With Matsuda’s longevity, he was something of a bridge from the Kosuke Kitajima era of Japanese swimming to the Kosuke Hagino era. Matsuda had the misfortune of specializing in Phelps’ best event, but he was the most consistent challenger to the greatest-of-all-time for many years.
Matsuda, now 32, swam his final races at the Japanese National Sports Festival, and he finished his career with a third-place finish in the 400 free Friday. He swam almost his entire career under the guidance of Yumiko Kuze, who began coaching Matsuda when he was just four years old.