Swimming: Tokyo Olympic double gold medalist Yui Ohashi retires

SAGA (Kyodo) — Japanese swimmer Yui Ohashi, the women’s 200- and 400-meter individual medley gold medalist at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, had the last race of her career Saturday at the National Sports Festival.

The 28-year-old Ohashi finished second behind Shiho Matsumoto in the 200-meter individual medley final at Saga Sunrise Park in Saga, southwestern Japan.

“I had a dream career as I got to win Olympic gold medals,” Ohashi said. “Japanese swimming isn’t in a good state. I hope to get involved in its comeback.”

Japan won only one medal in the pool at the Paris Olympics, Tomoyuki Matsushita’s silver in the men’s 400-meter individual medley, in the country’s worst Olympic swimming results since it had no podium finishes at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

In Paris, Ohashi was unable to reach the 200 IM final as she finished 12th overall in the semifinals.

At the world championships, the Shiga Prefecture native took silver in the 200 IM in 2017 and bronze in the 400 IM two years later.