ATHLETE

Meet the Athletes

Get to know the participating world-class athletes, and discover what makes each one of them superhuman.

Athletics athlete
Deaflympics athlete

Yuma Yamamoto

At Hikarigaoka Girl’s High school, she participated in the Inter-High School Athletics Championships in the 800m, 1500m, and 3000m, and contributed to the Aichi Prefecture team's victory in the National Women's Ekiden Road Relay Race. At Meijo University, where she entered Meijo University, she was one of the top runners in Japan, winning sectional prizes in both the All-Japan University Women's Ekiden and the University Women's Selected Ekiden. In her senior year, she won the 5000m at the Japan Intercollegiate Championships for the first time, and also won the Japan Games with a new record of 15:16.71, the second best ever by a Japanese student (and the first ever by a Japanese), ahead of Ririka Hironaka, who was the Japanese record holder at the time and was as old as Yuma.
She has been a member of Sekisui Chemical CO., LTD. since April 2023. In her first year with the team, she became the first Japanese female athlete to win the 5000m at the Asian Games in July, and also competed in the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 in the same event. An athletic athletes of the new era, she won first place overall in the “Best Performance Award” in the top athletes category of the JAAF Fan Vote 2023, beating out a number of other athletes.

Read article

Rina Komokata

She has a congenital hearing impairment and wears a hearing aid for her life. She started playing tennis at the age of 6, and after attending Mie Prefectural Yokkaichi Commercial High School, she is currently the head of the tennis club at Doshisha University. She represented Japan at the World Deaf Tennis Championships in Greece in 2023, winning the women's singles and doubles titles. She was proudly selected as the No. 1 in the world ranking for the Australian Open Deaf & Hard of Hearing Championships in January 2024, in which only eight selected players will be able to compete. With a singles championship and a doubles runner-up finish, she is truly the "Queen" of the world of deaf tennis. She is aiming to win her remaining title at the Tokyo 2025 Deaflympics, where she will be competing for the first time.

Read article

New article

Rina Komokata, Deaf Tennis – One more title for the “Queen”

Rina Komokata won the singles title and the doubles second place in the Australian Open Deaf & Hard of Hearing Championships. On the day of the interview, she appeared at the site, standing a petite 154 cm tall and having a soft atmosphere, far from the "toughness" that one might associate with her performance. We asked her, who is a student currently attending Doshisha University, about her thoughts on tennis, student life, and the Tokyo 2025 Deaflympics, where she is expected to play an active role.

Yuma Yamamoto, Athletics – “I found a reason to work hard”, taking one more step forward with my late mother’s thoughts in my heart.

“To be honest, athletics wasn’t the best at that time“ Yuma Yamamoto, who competed in the women's 5,000m at the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23, has a history of taking a break from athletics in her second year of college. However, feeling frustrated by the success of her peers and touched by the thoughts of her late mother, she regained her passion for competition. She has a different character from previous athletes. The athletics hope, loved by many fans, is now on a solid growth curve.

Ryuji Miura, Athletics – Life-Altering Encounter with the 3000m Steeplechase: Finding My Center as an Athlete and a Person

"My life changed when I met the 3000m steeplechase," says Ryuji Miura. At the age of 19, he competed in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where he placed 7th, and in the Budapest 2023 World Championships, where he placed 6th, both times becoming the first Japanese to place in the event. At the age of 19, he competed in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where he placed 7th, and at the Budapest 2023 World Championships, where he placed 6th, becoming the first Japanese to place in both events. What is the path that the 22-year-old has taken and what does the future hold for the world's top athlete?

Riho Kamezawa, Deaf Table Tennis – The Unfulfilled Dream of a Legend with 8 Medals

Deaf Table Tennis legend Riho Kamezawa has won 8 medals (3 silver, 5 bronze) in 4 events since her first appearance at the Taipei 2009 Deaflympics. She has dreamed of competing in the Deaflympics since she was a child, and now that her dream has come true, she is on her way to her biggest goal of winning a gold medal, which she has yet to achieve. Her true face is that of a "mama athlete" raising a 5-year-old daughter. We asked her what she thinks about the upcoming Tokyo 2025 Deaflympics as she juggles competing and raising a child.

Ryoichi Akamatsu, Athletics – The “Three-Way” High Jumper Soars on the World Stage

At the Twilight Games held in July 2023, high jumper Ryoichi Akamatsu broke his personal best with a jump of 2m30cm, becoming the 8th Japanese athlete to make the "big jump". The following month, he reached the final of the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23. He became the second Japanese to finish in 8th place. Akamatsu-san not only competes, but also works as an IT engineer and is a research student at the Gifu University School of Medicine. We interviewed the high jumper, who is active in a wide range of fields as a "Three-Way," about how he faces the competition and his thoughts on the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25.