‘Absolutely Happy’ Olympic Champ Yui Ohashi Ready for Opportunities of Retirement
Japanese Olympic medley gold medalist Yui Ohashi expressed gratitude for her career at a press conference on Friday, her first extended remarks since retiring from the sport in September.
Ohashi’s press conference in Tokyo coincided with her 29th birthday. The swimmer who did the women’s individual medley double at the Tokyo Games expressed thanks for the career she assembled and is looking forward to some involvement with the sport now that she’s done swimming. She will continue graduate studies in nutrition with an eye toward sports performance.
“I am absolutely happy with the career I had,” Ohashi said. “I’m so lucky to have done something I love for as long as I did and on top of that, I won two – not one, but two – gold medals at the Olympics, a competition I never dreamed of competing in.”
Ohashi won the 200 and 400 IM at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, the only dampener on the achievement being that it came without fans in the stands. She was the first Japanese female swimmer to win two individual gold medals at the same Olympics.
It culminated a steady climb for the Hikone native, who was the double IM champ at the World University Games in 2017 and the Pan Pacific Championships in 2018. She won silver in the 200 IM at the 2017 World Championships and bronze in the 400 at Worlds in 2019, then put all the pieces together spectacularly for her moment on the Olympic stage.
Ohashi couldn’t quite replicate that on the road to Paris, three years which she called “terribly difficult.” She did not qualify for the 400 IM and swam only the 200 IM, bowing out in the semifinals in 12th place. She wasn’t alone in enduring a disappointing 2024 Games, with only one Japanese swimmer – Tomoyuki Matsushita’s silver in the men’s 400 IM – taking home a medal.
Ohashi declared her retirement in September, but she said Friday that she had known for about a year that the Paris Olympics would be her finale. She cited flagging motivation after the high of the Tokyo Games and having to summon “the courage” to reach Paris.
“I really struggled to maintain my motivation in the three years after Tokyo,” she said. “When I thought about competing in Paris, I had to go all in for one last time. The toughest was the year after the Olympics. In 2022, I had no grasp or control over my emotions. I was completely confused. And that was the state I was in for the World Championships (sixth place).
“After winning gold at Tokyo, I thought the results there were what mattered. But my take on it all changed during the last three years. What made me who I am, what gave me the courage to get through things, was the actual experience of getting the most out of myself at the Tokyo Olympics.
Ohashi plans to go into coaching. Her nutritional sciences work has an eye toward helping others cope with challenges like the anemia she experienced growing up.
“The Japanese swimming world is going through some difficulties, but among the young swimmers who competed with me in Paris, there are some who will be successful in the future,” Ohashi said. “I want to produce swimmers who can win gold at the Olympics.”
