The Japanese swimming team had one of the most forgettable experiences at the Paris Olympics. While they have been a regular feature on the Olympic podiums, 2024 narrated an entirely different story. After bagging three medals from the Tokyo Games, Japan looked to up the ante in France. Unfortunately, their implementations were not fruitful and almost all of the Japanese swimmers failed to flutter their nation’s flag at the grandest stage. Tomoyuki Matsushita was the only silver lining in an otherwise dark outing.

Participating in the men’s 400m individual medley, Matsushita finished second to grab the silver medal for Japan. Such a dismal showing escalated tensions back in Japan and things soon took a sour turn at the organizational level. According to a September 10 update from Japan Today, the head of the Japanese Swimming Federation, Takayuki Umehara was in line to submit his resignation later this month. However, that is not the case, as per the official statement issued by the JASF recently. 

Umehara has been a phenomenal coach, guiding swimmers like Daiya Seto to become world-renowned athletes in the individual medley category. While Umehara was appointed as the head of JASF in 2021, the Federation has made it clear that there is no possibility of a resignation. In a statement issued on September 9, the JASF stated, “There has been no discussion or deliberation regarding the resignation or term of office of the current chairman… based on the business evaluation, the federation will not ask for his resignation or resignation for responsibility.”

It further stressed how the federation would deeply scrutinize the reasons for such a poor performance. They have also hinted at plotting ways in which the Japanese swimmers can be trained and equipped in order to reclaim a major part of their lost glory at the 2028 games in Los Angeles. With the resetting process underway, the inputs of renowned coaches and athletes will be taken into account to identify the pain points and work towards improving them. Well, the shake-up at the Japanese front is quite understandable looking at their declining medals tally each Olympics. 

Japanese swimming faces somber tale at subsequent Olympics 

Swimming has always been one of the biggest strengths of Japan at the Olympics. Back at the London Olympics, the Japanese swimmers put on a spectacular show to grab 11 medals in total. While it was one of the shining moments in Japanese swimming history, the start of the end was nearing without anyone realizing it. Come the Rio Olympics, Japan still looked strong but got their medals counted down by 2. The swimmers from Japan clinched a total of 9 medals including two golds at the enchanting land of Samba. 

Come 2021 Tokyo, the expectations were sky-high. Featuring in their homeland, the Japanese swimmers were anticipated to put on a show. But just like the somber tone the world was channeled into following the deadly COVID, the medals tally reduced drastically to only three. While Yui Ohashi started proceedings on a bright note, winning two gold medals, for the rest of Japan’s quest, not much was left to say. Competing in the 200m fly, Tomoru Honda won the silver medal in Tokyo, closing the account of the Japanese swimmers in the games. Currently, Japanese swimming has hit an all-time low since the 1996 Atlanta games, and with the shake-up controversy happening at the helm, it remains to be seen how things pan out in the future.