Following up on our report from earlier this morning regarding Japanese swimming superstar Daiya Seto, the 26-year-old has indeed been handed an ethics code violation punishment by his swimming federation.
As we detailed, Seto met with the formal ethics committee of the Japanese Swimming Federation (JASF) yesterday, October 12th. The topic of discussion was Seto’s JASF ethics violation incurred by way of his extramarital affair, a situation to which the world record holder admitted to and apologized for last month.
Swimming-related fallout from the personal event already included the double gold medalist from the 2019 FINA World Aquatic Championships submitting his request to be removed as captain of the Japanese Olympic swimming team. Seto’s request was granted.
Additionally, Seto withdrew from the Japan Short Course Swimming Championships, which are slated to take place this weekend.
Next steps involved the JASF holding an extraordinary managing board meeting today, October 13th to determine if there will be any further ramifications. And ramifications there are, as Seto has been sidelined for the remainder of the 2020 calendar year in terms of Japanese team competitions, camps and training. (Kyodo)
This means that Seto will be unable to compete at the Japan Swim this December, postponed originally from its April timeline due to the coronavirus pandemic. The meet, however, is not a selection meet.
The board did confirm that Seto’s qualification for the 2020 Olympic Games by way of his 200m IM/400m IM double gold in Gwangju at last year’s World Championships remains intact.
There is no official word on Seto’s participation in the International Swimming League (ISL) at this point. It’s unlikely that the JASF has jurisdiction over that non-Japanese national team league, but we will continue to try to validate. We have reached out to the JASF and Tokyo Frog Kings.
Update since original publishing: Daiya Seto‘s comment
“We take this disposition seriously and apologize to all the people who have been impacted in my actions and to all who support us. How can I apologize? I’ve been asking myself if I can, but I think my apology is to continue swimming. Restoring the trust of my family, who have been deeply hurt by my irresponsible behavior. However, I would like to seriously face swimming with the determination to start over so that my family and everyone will recognize me as a swimmer again. I’m really sorry.” (Sports Hochi)
For those of you who doesn’t understand Japanese culture where prostitution and extra marital affairs are part and parcel of everyday life; this has NOTHING to do with the morally questionable activities mentioned.
Someone in this affair has lost a serious amount of face and it isn’t Seto. He is simply paying for it.
I see a couple of possible reasons this happened. My best bets:
A. Either Seto is married to a VERY hi-so woman whose family are livid and exercise political or economical pressure
OR
B. The woman with whom Seto got involved is the daughter or wife of a hi-so man/family.
There is more to this affair than meets the eye. No… Read more »
If you follow the Japanese news media, he cheated with several women. It just happened that one of them contacted the press and got paid for it.
The real question is: how fast can he run 3000 meters?
If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.
No one thinks they’re gonna get caught, otherwise there wouldn’t be any
Very interesting discussion here. I can’t say I would have ever even considered that this could be a thing. I’m not sure how I feel about it. Regardless, as a swimming fan, I’m glad he can still do Tokyo.
First the University of Delaware, then Seto. What a week for elite swimming.
Felt bad laughing at this one
So if he does swim ISL and breaks a world record, will it even get ratified by FINA because he’s been suspended by JASF?
That, mi amigo, is a great question. We’ll see what we can find out.
He can’t afford to swim ISL now. If he does JASF will ban him from the Olympics.
Hopefully this motivates him to bust his gut all winter and break Phelps 4IM record in Tokyo next year.
Why would JASF ban him? They do not have control of non-Japanese leagues.
That would be mental – officially, the rules apply equally to all. But it’s very hard to imagine Japan blocking’s their best swimmer, their best shot at gold, from their home Olympics
Anyway. I think Seto has already withdrawn from ISL. He’s in the lay-low stage of public image rehab
This is taking things a bit far. Others have done a lot more and got a lot less, I guess Japan has different standards to most other countries which is there right.