After Falling Short of Paris Olympics, Japan’s Ryosuke Irie Announces Retirement
Japanese Olympic medalist Ryosuke Irie announced his retirement from competitive swimming on Wednesday, a week after he fell short of qualifying for a fifth Olympics at the Paris Games.
Irie posted his farewell on Instagram.
Irie in his farewell dates his career to his national team bow in high school in 2006, meaning he’s spent more than half his life representing his country. Though he didn’t qualify at Japanese Trials last month, he expressed joy that his final meet came in front of his home country fans.
“I can proudly say it was a happy swim life,” Irie wrote.
The backstroker has been one of the finest representatives of his country over the last two decades. He won silver at the 2012 Olympics in the 200 backstroke. He added medley relay silver in London and bronze in the 100 back. He made the final in both backstroke swims at the Rio Olympics in 2016, finishing seventh in the 100 and eighth in the 200. He was seventh in the 200 and ninth in the 100 at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
At his farewell press conference Wednesday in Tokyo, Irie was joined by one of those other leading lights, International Swimming Hall of Famer Kosuke Kitajima. The breaststroker called Irie, “a central figure of Japan’s national swimming team and a great teammate.”
Irie finished third in his signature event at Japanese Trials. His time of 1:58.37 was behind Hidekazu Takehara and Keita Sunama, both of whom hit Olympic A cuts.
“I’m grateful from the bottom of my heart to have had such a long career,” Irie said Wednesday. “I would’ve liked to retire in Paris but I swam my last race in Japan, in Tokyo, in front of a lot of people. I couldn’t be happier.
“There will be no more swimming for me. Part of me is happy and part of me is sad about that.”
The 34-year-old has had a remarkable career since his debut at the 2006 Asian Games, when at age 16 he won gold in the 200 back. He earned silver three years later at the famous 2009 World Championships in the 200 back.
All told, Irie complemented his three Olympic medals with two silver and two bronze (three of them individual) at World Championships; two bronze at Short-Course Worlds; a gold, six silver sand a bronze at the Pan Pacific Championships; six gold and 14 total Asian Games medals; and six golds over two World University Games.
He retires as the holder of Japanese records in the men’s 100 and 200 back, both dating to the super-suited 2009 era. He helped the Japanese men’s medley relay set a national record in finishing sixth at the Tokyo Olympics, and he swam backstroke on the 400 mixed medley record from 2018. Irie’s 200 back time of 1:52.51 remains the Asian record.
