'The Little Mermaid'Kim Seo-young (Gyeongbuk Provincial Government)'s rival and best friend 'Japanese individual medley ace'Yui Ohashi (28) announced his retirement.
Ohashi finished his last race in the 200m individual medley final of the national sports festival held at Saga Sunrise Park in southwest Japan on the 14th, finishing second to his teammate Shiho Matsumoto (2:10.51).
Ohashi, from Saga Prefecture, was recognized as a world-class all-around ace by winning a silver medal in the 200m individual medley (2:07.91) at the 2017 Budapest World Championships and a bronze medal in the 400m individual medley (4:32.33) at the 2019 Gwangju World Championships.
Ohashi, who gave up the gold medal in the 200m individual medley at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games, ranked second after Kim Seo-young, revived splendidly in the women's 200m (2:08:52) and 400m individual medley (4:32:08) at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, winning the first two gold medals in Japanese women's swimming. However, at the Paris Olympics last summer, the final round of eight people was thwarted by finishing 12th overall at 2:10.94, three seconds behind his best record in the 200m individual medley semifinal.
At the Paris Olympics, the only medal for Japanese swimming was silver from Tomoyuki Matsushita in the men's 400m individual medley, and the worst performance in 28 years since no medal at the 1996 Atlanta Games came to a red light. Amid the possibility of the resignation of Takayuki Umehara, the head of the Japanese management team, Japan plans to go all out to restore its competitiveness at the LA Olympics four years later.
In an interview with Kyodo News on the 16th, Ohashi said, "I really enjoyed it, and I played well as it was my last race. "I built my dream career by winning the Olympic gold medal. "The current atmosphere in Japanese swimming is not good. I want to do something to help revive Japanese swimming in the future" expressed his feelings about retirement. "I want to participate in the reconstruction of the Japanese swimming community."With the plan, I want to repay the Itoman Club for their great help throughout my career by helping strengthen the team to produce Olympians and medalists." conveyed his will.
