On the heels of a disappointing showing at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, the Japanese Swimming Federation (JASF) has denied reports that one of its leaders would be stepping down. One of the reports was featured on Kyodo News.
Takayuki Umehara, chairman of the swimming committee within the JASF, was elected to his post in 2021, the same time Daichi Suzuki was elected as overall JASF chairman. Umehara is a former coach of Olympic medalist Daiya Seto.
Issued on September 9th, the JASF’s statement reads that ‘there has been no discussion or deliberation regarding the resignation or term of office of the current chairman.’
Additionally, the JASF commented, ‘based on the business evaluation, the federation will not ask for his resignation or resignation for responsibility.’
After only reaping three medals at the 2020 Olympic Games, postponed to 2021 on its home turf of Tokyo, the nation of Japan earned just one piece of hardware this summer in Paris. Tomoyuki Matsushita took the silver in the men’s 400m IM behind world record holder Leon Marchand of France.
It “seems like” the Japanese always peak at the wrong time. Their best times would place in the top 3 in several events. They swim fast all year just not at big meets.
I wonder how much their draconian selection standards impact that…
Just a thought, but could those standards be tied to budget for number of athletes?
Certainly possible.
I have to believe that “Olympic medals” pay for themselves in growth, attention, marketing power, but I don’t know enough about the economics of Japanese swimming to be positive on that.
What can’t the world’s third largest economy afford if it makes swimming a priority?