Impairment Information |
Origin of Impairment |
Acquired |
Classification |
S5, SB4, SM5 |
Further Personal Information |
Residence |
Kawasaki, JPN |
Languages |
Japanese |
Sport Specific Information |
When and where did you begin this sport? |
She learned to swim in 1994 and won her first competition in the same year after just one month of training. |
Why this sport? |
Some of her friends encouraged her to participate in a Para swimming competition. |
Club / Team |
Yokohama Sakura Swimming School : Japan |
Name of coach |
Fumiyo Minemura [national], JPN; Masayuki Horikoshi [personal], JPN, from 2014 |
General Interest |
Nicknames |
Queen of Water, Ma-chan (nhk.or.jp, 08 Sep 2015; IPC, 30 Nov 2009) |
Memorable sporting achievement |
Qualifying to compete at her fifth Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. (Athlete, 06 Sep 2016) |
Hero / Idol |
German Para swimmer Kay Espenhayn. (Athlete, 06 Sep 2016; IPC, 30 Nov 2009) |
Injuries |
In 2008 she suffered a hip joint disease and spent time in hospital recovering from the condition. She left hospital 10 days before the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing. (sankei.com, 21 Aug 2015)
In January 2006 she had problems with her hip joint. She had three operations and stayed in a hospital for 20 months. (yomiuri.co.jp, 21 May 2008) |
Awards and honours |
She was named the 2005 Female Athlete of the Year by the International Paralympic Committee [IPC]. (paralympic.org, 25 Oct 2005)
In 2000 she was presented with the Prime Minister's Honorary Award in Japan. (hochi.co.jp, 03 Jul 2016)
In 1996 she was given the Kawasaki Citizen Honorary Award in Japan. (hochi.co.jp, 03 Jul 2016)
She received the Kawasaki Sports Award in 1995. (seiwabl.co.jp, 2004) |
Impairment |
She has used a wheelchair since she was age 13 due to myelitis, a condition the causes inflammation of the spinal cord. She became a quadriplegic after she was involved in a car accident in 1994, the same year she began competing. (IPC brochure, 2008) |
Other information |
OTHER ACTIVITIES
She has served as an executive board member of the Organising Committee of the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo, a committee member of the Central Council for Education, an ambassador to Kawasaki Citizens Culture, a visiting researcher at Sports Science Research Institute of Nippon Sport Science University and a vice president of the Kanto Swimming Federation for the Disabled in Japan. (kanpara.com, 01 Sep 2016; Athlete, 06 Sep 2016; kanpara.com, 27 Jun 2015) |
