Japanese swimmer hopes gold medal rush can help heal divided nation

With her victory, she became the first Japanese woman ever to clinch two gold medals in a single Games, after she also claimed the 400m individual medley the week before. It made Tokyo 2020 the seventh straight Olympics where the winner of the women’s 200m and 400m individual medley has been the same person. Completing the race with a time of 2:08.52, Ohashi finished in front of Team USA’s Alex Walsh and Kate Douglass, who took silver and bronze respectively. “It’s surreal,” Ohashi told CNN’s Selina Wang. “And even now that the race is over, I don’t even feel like I swam in the Olympics, but here I am today.””I was thinking I might lose, I might not be able to catch up, even up to 15 meters left, but I had won the gold medal in the first race, so I was able to relax a lot, and I told myself to try and do my best so that I could finish without any regret,” she adds. Feeling the pressureIn the lead up to her double-gold triumph, Ohashi, like many athletes, had to deal with the voices of opposition to the Olympics, and the question of whether or not they should really be held — while also juggling the pressure of competing on a global stage.By the time the Games started in July, there had been a series of public campaigns calling for the Tokyo Olympics to be canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, including an online petition and protests in Japan’s capital, even as the Opening Ceremony got underway. “We, the athletes, went into the Olympics with a great deal of confusion,” Ohashi says. For athletes, the financial and emotional challenges of keeping their Tokyo 2020 dreams alive became exacerbated during the pandemic. While some turned to delivering food for Uber Eats to earn extra cash, others were balancing motherhood or trying to find sustainable ways of keeping in shape, all with reduced access to training facilities. ‘It was a miracle’Having come back from rock bottom in 2019 to win bronze in the 400m individual medley at that year’s FINA World Championships, Ohashi says that going through physical and mental hardships has only helped her grow as an athlete.”There were times when it felt so hard and I almost gave up swimming, but now I feel that everything paid off,” she says.Reflecting on her stellar run at Tokyo 2020, she says, “Of course, I came this far dreaming of winning a gold medal, but I never thought for a moment that I could win a gold medal, even though I had imagined it.””I am proud of myself for winning two gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics, and I believe that my victory could encourage the Japanese swimming and sports worlds in the future,” she adds.For Ohashi, her two gold medals stand for something bigger than a double-Olympic victory. She hopes her ability to overcome adversity and make Olympic history can inspire hope — and help to heal a divided nation. “I’ve received a lot of comments from people who said they were moved by athletes winning gold medals and other medals, seeing athletes trying so hard, so I’m very happy about that,” she says. “It was a miracle for me to participate in the Olympic Games in my own country, so it was a big event for me, and I hope that I was able to inspire people — it might be strange to say this but — inspire those who were against the Games, or people who were not so interested in sports, and I hope I’ve encouraged them even a bit.”