Swimming in Japan is loaded with youth. It’s always loaded with youth, as their athletes generally seem to be on a development cycle about two years ahead of their American counterparts.
Thus it’s no surprise that they’ve selected the relatively-young, 46-year old Daichi Suzuki as the federation’s new president. He is the youngest president in the history of the federation, taking over for the 72-year old Kazuo Sano, who will remain on to work with the federation and serve as the vice-president of the Asia Swimming Federation.
Suzuki was the Olympic gold medalist at the 1988 Games in Seoul in the 100 backstroke as part of a relatively short, but very explosive, international career.
Elsewhere in Japan, Kosuke Hagino won a national sports award as the “Rookie of the Year” across all sports after winning a bronze medal in the 400 IM at last year’s Olympics at only 17-years old. Since then, he has exploded and arguably become the country’s best male swimmer.
