Left: Kota Kubota holds his silver medal in the men’s 100-meter backstroke in the S8 class during the Paralympic Games in Paris on Saturday.
Right: Kota Kubota competes in the men’s 100m backstroke in the S8 class.
01:00 JST, September 3, 2024
PARIS — Para-swimmer Kota Kubota was on the verge of giving up swimming as a young boy because he didn’t want anyone to see his paralyzed left arm. Now he has won silver in the S8 class of the men’s 100-meter backstroke, his first Paralympic medal.
What saved him was a good scolding from his mother.
Kubota, 24, is the second oldest of four brothers from Chiba City. Despite the disability in his left arm, he was adept with his right hand when it came to changing his clothes. He grew up to be an active boy and tried various sports, including swimming.
However, when he was in his third year of high school, he started to feel like everyone on the street was looking at his left arm. He started wearing long-sleeved shirts and covering his arm with a towel.
“Why was I born with an arm like that?” he asked his mother one day, now 55. “You’ll never know how I feel. I’m going to quit swimming,”
She was surprised by her son’s abrupt words, but replied in a strong tone: “If you stop, what will be left? You will only be seen as a child with a disability. Will you only destroy your potential, your future?”
After carefully considering his future, he came to the conclusion that the only thing he wanted to do was swim. Shortly after returning to the pool, he was selected for intensive training and development. He competed in an international competition as a freshman in high school and then competed in the 2021 Tokyo Paralympic Games.
After finishing fifth in Tokyo, he was given the chance to hold the gold medal from fellow swimmer Takayuki Suzuki, 37, in the Olympic and Paralympic Village. The weight of the medal reinforced his aspiration to “win a medal myself next time.”
After the Tokyo Paralympics, Kubota improved his swimming technique. By adding a mix of flutter kicks and double leg kicks, he managed to increase his speed.
At the Paralympic Games in Paris, Suzuki, who had also won gold, encouraged Kubota by saying: “Get one yourself!”
Kubota gave it his all with just his right arm and eventually won his very first medal, just as he had always wanted.
“I’m relieved to win a medal for all those people who cheered me on,” Kubota said calmly after the race.
“The son I was most worried about became a medalist and made me proud,” said his mother, who had been cheering him on from the stands, her eyes red with tears.
