Backstroker Kubota Wins Silver Thanks to Good Scolding from Mom; Support, Determination Delivers First Ever Paralympic Medal

By Ichiro Hatae / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

1:00 JST, September 3, 2024

PARIS — Para swimmer Kota Kubota was about to give up swimming as a young boy because he did not 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 eldest of four brothers from Chiba City. Despite the disability in his left arm, he was dexterous with his right hand when it came to changing his clothes. He grew into an active boy and tried a variety of sports, including swimming.

However, when he was a third-year junior high school student, he started to feel like everyone on the street was looking at his left arm. He began wearing long-sleeved shirts and covering his arm with a towel.

“Why was I born with an arm like this?” he asked his mother, now 55, one day. “You’ll never know how I feel. I’m going to quit swimming,”

She was surprised by her son’s abrupt words, but she replied in a strong tone: “If you quit, what’ll be left? You’ll be seen only as a child with a disability. Are you just going to destroy your potential, your future?”

Carefully thinking about his future, he came to the conclusion that the only thing he wanted to do was swim. Soon after returning to the pool, he was chosen for intensive training and development. He participated in an international competition as a first-year senior high school student, and then he took part in the 2021 Paralympic Games in Tokyo.

After finishing fifth in Tokyo, he got the chance to hold the gold medal of fellow swimmer Takayuki Suzuki, 37, in the Olympic and Paralympic Village. The weight of the medal solidified his aspiration to “win a medal himself next time.”

Following the Tokyo Paralympics, Kubota honed his swimming technique. Adding a mixture of flutter kicks and double leg kicks, he succeeded in increasing his speed.

At the Paris Paralympics, Suzuki, who won another gold at the Games, encouraged Kubota, saying, “Get one for yourself!”

Kubota went all out with only his right arm and, in the end, claimed his ever first medal, just like he had aspired to do.

“I’m relieved to win a medal in front of all the people who cheered for me,” Kubota said calmly after the race.

“The son I worried about the most became a medalist and did me proud,” said his mother, who had been cheering him from the stands, her eyes red with tears.