ATHLETE

Meet the Athletes

Get to know the participating world-class athletes, and discover what makes each one of them superhuman.

Athletics athlete
Deaflympics athlete

Yuma Maruyama

Graduated from Osaka Prefectural Shinoda Senior High School and Nihon University. Belongs to Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. from April 2021. Set a Japanese high school record in the octathlon during his third year of high school. He steadily improved his records in university, but in his third year he suffered a thoracic disc herniation injury, which put his competitive career in jeopardy. After that, he continued to compete for three years from 2020 to 2022 while undergoing treatment. In 2023, he overcame a serious injury to win his first Japan championship. He then won the Asian Championships after being selected to represent Japan, and participated in the Budapest 2023 World Athletics Championships, growing to become an outstanding figure in Japan. In 2024, he won the Japan Championship consecutively and scored 8,021 points, the third highest in Japan's history. Can history be rewritten at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25? Hope rises for the Japanese decathlon athlete.

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Takuma Sasaki

Graduated from Morioka School for the Deaf and Sendai University. Currently, he is on an athlete employment contract and is a faculty member at his alma mater, Sendai University.
He started track and field at Hachinohe School for the Deaf Junior High School, and won first place in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay at the National School for the Deaf Track and Field Competition in his third year of high school at Morioka School for the Deaf. Starting with Sofia 2013, which he competed in while attending Sendai University, he has participated in three consecutive Deaflympics.
At the Samsung 2017 Games, he ran the anchor leg for the 4x100m relay and contributed to winning the gold medal. At the Caxias do Sul 2022 Deaflympics, he won gold medal in the 100m.

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Yuma Maruyama, Athletics – Aim to become the true “King of Athletes” Mountain challenge beyond limits

“King of Athletes”. Decathlon winners are also referred to as such by athletes outside of track and field. Ten events will be held over two days, including the 100m, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400m, 110m hurdles, discus throw, pole vault, javelin throw, and 1500m. The records will be converted into points and the participants will compete based on the total score. It is not hard to imagine that it is a tough competition. Yuma Maruyama is Japan's current leader in this decathlon. He has won the Japan Championship for the second time in a row and also participated in the Budapest 2023 World Athletics Championships. Although he did not reach the stage of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, he scored 8,021 points, becoming the fourth Japanese person to break the mark at this summer's World Athletics (WA) Mixed Tour. We took a closer look at the true face of the 26-year-old, who is currently in the prime of his career.

Takuma Sasaki, Deaf Athletics – Chasing my dreams up until now, and hope to start to show my running from now on

“Winning the gold medal in the 100m at the Deaflympics”. That was a dream that Takuma Sasaki had for a long time. That dream was finally achieved for the third time at the Caxias do Sul 2022 Deaflympics. However, because he achieved everything, he struggled to maintain motivation. What made him motivated again? And what is he aiming for at the Tokyo 2025 Deaflympics? We asked him about his new dream.

Mio Nakata, Deaf Volleyball – To create “one point” that we can get excited about together

Mio Nakata has been leading the team for 11 years as a member of Deaf Volleyball Japan Women’s National Team. Volleyball has always been at the center of her life, and her attitude of keeping an inquisitive mind and working hard will never change. Where does her passion come from? What is the driving force behind her and her thoughts on the Tokyo 2025 Deaflympics, where she aims to win her second gold medal since the Samsung 2017 Games?

Mariko Morimoto, Athletics – In pursuit of the unfinished triple jump “Become to be 1% better than my yesterday’s self”

Triple jumper Mariko Morimoto took a historic step at the Paris 2024 Olympics this summer. She is the first Japanese female athlete to participate in the same event. The triple jump is an event in which Mikio Oda became the “first Japanese Olympic gold medalist” at the 1928 Amsterdam Games. And even after that, Japanese athletes continued to win gold medals in 1932 and 1936, and it was once called “Speciality of Japan.'' However, until now, female athletes have been blocked by the thick walls of the world and have not been able to participate in the Olympics. Mariko Morimoto is the person who pried open that closed door. We asked her about what she is aware of on a daily basis and her thoughts for the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25.

Joy McArthur, Athletics – Hammer throw which became the “meaning of life”. New heroine who loves Japan

Hammer throw was her first encounter with something that “made me want to put my life on the line for the first time” for Joy McArthur. Without any confidence and nothing that she wants to do. It wasn't until she started working on hammer throw that she was able to face herself.
In February 2022, she chose a Japanese citizenship, and in April of the following year, she broke the Japanese record held by Yuka Murofushi for the first time in 19 years. In April 2024, she marked 70m51, becoming the first Japanese woman to reach the 70m mark. The words of the 25-year-old, who suddenly became a new heroine, were not only about hammer throw, but also about her love for Japan, where she lived until she was eight years old.