"The Olympics are not something anyone can participate in; they really can only be reached by select athletes," said Tatsuya Shinhama, a 23-year-old speed skater.
With the postponement of the Tokyo Summer Games, he added, "The athletes have trained for this for four years, but now it's five years. I think there are many athletes who are wondering what they should do."
The postponement of the Tokyo Olympics is felt even by Shinhama, who is an athlete preparing for the Winter Games. Though he has never been to the Olympics, he knows all too well how tough the path to the top sporting event is.
"If I were a Summer Olympics athlete, I think it would be really hard for me, and I think keeping that mindset of preparing for the Olympics for even one more year would be impossible for me," he said.
Less than two years remain until the opening of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. During the 2019-20 season, Shinhama proved to the world that Japan has a superior athlete in him.
He won the overall championship in the World Cup 500 meter single distance category, which has not happened to a Japanese athlete since Hiroyasu Shimizu won the title in the 2000-01 season.
He also won his first world sprint championship, becoming only the second Japanese speed skater to win the short-distance title after Akira Kuroiwa in 1983 and 1987.
With Shinhama proving himself to be on the same level as Olympic medalists during the season, he remarked, "I finished well."
His great season stems from the speed skater taking full advantage of his well-built, 183-centimeter-tall frame to accelerate on the ice and his ability to turn the corners, previously a weak point for him, with greater stability than before.
However, even after he came out on top at the World Cup, he still does not feel satisfied with his performance.
"I'm sure I made a mistake in there somewhere," he said. "Even though I've been putting on ice skates for about 20 years now, I've never thought to myself, 'That was the best race I could ever do.' I hope I can feel that sometime."
Coming off his short off-season, Shinhama is keeping in top form by, for example, working out at the Takasaki University of Health and Welfare. He is also a coach of the university's skate team, concentrating not only on his own training, but also offering careful advice to others.
The speed skater heads into the 2020-21 season, or the last season before the Beijing Winter Olympics, with the goals of setting a new world record and winning a gold medal at the Olympics. However, he is keeping a level head.
"Those goals are still a little out of reach for me," he said. "If I can finesse a few things -- like my skills, physical power and mentality -- I think I can reach them, though."
Behind his humility stands confidence.
Shinhama was born in 1996 and comes from Hokkaido. He graduated from the Takasaki University of Health and Welfare. In March 2019, he became the first Japanese athlete to record 33 seconds in the men's 500 meter two days in a row. He also set a Japanese record at 33.79 seconds. He is 183 centimeters tall and weighs 90 kilograms.
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