It Was Because of Major Setbacks and Difficult Times That I Was Able to Find My Own Style of Fencing

Alumna Karin Miyawaki (Graduate of the Faculty of Economics)

2025/05/13

Karin Miyawaki / Fencing (Foil) Athlete
Graduated from the Faculty of Economics in 2019. She began fencing at the age of five, won the national championship in the fourth grade of elementary school, and has since achieved success in various international competitions since junior high school. She aimed to compete in the Olympic Games since her time at Keio Girls Senior High School. Although she missed out on representing Japan at the Rio de Janeiro Games (2016) and the Tokyo Games (2021), she was selected for the individual and team events for the Paris 2024 Games, bringing Japan its first-ever Olympic medal in women's fencing. Currently, as an employee of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, she is honing her skills while competing around the world, aiming to participate in the 2028 Los Angeles Games and win individual and team gold medals.

-Congratulations on winning the bronze medal in the women's foil team event at the Paris Olympics. How have you been spending your time since the Games?

Miyawaki: Thank you. After receiving the medal, I returned to Japan immediately and enjoyed a complete break for the whole of August. However, with the All-Japan Championships in Shizuoka Prefecture in mid-September, I resumed training on September 1. I have two-and-a-half-hour training sessions every morning and afternoon. Until July, I will be competing around the world at a pace of roughly one competition per month, starting in Tunisia in North Africa and then moving on to Europe, Asia, and Central and South America.

-Could you tell us what got you started in fencing?

Miyawaki: It all started when my older sister said she wanted to do kendo. There was no kendo dojo within commuting distance from our house, but there was a fencing school nearby, so my sister and mother started taking lessons, saying, "Fencing is just Western kendo" (laughs). As a kindergartener, I went with my sister to her practice every week, and one day, the coach asked me, "Why don't you give it a try?" He must have noticed that I had been watching my sister's practice, thinking all along, "I want to try fencing, too."

As soon as I started, I found it fascinating. My personality was better suited to individual sports than team sports, and perhaps because I hate to lose, I could feel myself improving. It was so much fun and a great joy to be able to beat older boys who were much taller than me in fencing.

-You won the national championship in the fourth grade of elementary school and began competing in international tournaments in junior high. I imagine there were high expectations for you as a fencer. How did you feel about that yourself?

Miyawaki: I was passionate about fencing, and winning competitions was my greatest joy. However, if you were to ask if I was aiming to be an Olympic-level athlete since elementary and junior high school, the answer would be no. I also enjoyed my studies at school.

A turning point I recall was meeting Yuki Ota, Japan's first Olympic silver medalist in fencing, during the winter of my first year of high school. At that time, Mr. Ota asked me in detail about my future goals as an athlete, including competing in the Olympics. I wasn't seriously aiming for the Olympics yet, so I was a bit taken aback, but looking back, I think that conversation with him helped me set my mind. I realized that no matter how hard I studied, it would be difficult to become "number one in the world," but with fencing, it might be possible. In my second year of high school, with the clear goal of being selected for the Japanese national team for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, I began to focus on fencing more than ever before.

-What kind of student were you during your time at the girls' high school?

Miyawaki: While I was dedicated to fencing, I was also a student who excelled, particularly in science and math subjects. I made many friends, and every day was fun and brilliant. Back then, we were convinced that "we high school girls were the center of the world" and believed we could do anything. I'm still in touch with the friends I made then. Many of them came to cheer me on at the Paris Games, and I was so happy to be able to share the joy of winning a medal with all of them.

-For university, you chose the Faculty of Economics.

Miyawaki: Yes, I also considered enrolling in the Faculty of Science and Technology, but considering the practice and competitions for the Olympic national team, I thought a science and technology field, which requires a lot of time for classes and experiments, would be difficult. So, among the humanities, I chose economics, which is a mathematical discipline. I was a member of the Athletic Association Fencing Club, and it's a fond memory that I was able to contribute to our promotion to the first division of the Kanto Student Fencing League in my second year. Also, I spent one-third to one-half of the year on overseas trips for international fencing competitions, so to be honest, I don't think I was a typical university student.

-While you were in university, you achieved results such as winning the women's individual foil at the Junior World Cup, but unfortunately, you were not selected for the Japanese national team for the Rio de Janeiro Games.

Miyawaki: Competing as an Olympic representative was my biggest goal as a fencer, so it was a major setback for me. It was difficult to recover, but with the help and advice of those around me, I later won a team gold medal as a representative at the Asian Games and renewed my determination to practice hard for the Tokyo Games, which were to be held in my home country. However, after graduating from university, I couldn't achieve the results I wanted, and as a result, I once again had to face the setback of not being selected for the Olympic team. At that time, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Games were postponed for a year, and there was criticism of athletes. Looking back, it was a very difficult period. It had only been about two years since I graduated from university, so I was also considering giving up on life as an athlete and pursuing a different path. After what I call my "blank year," it was the presence of my fellow athletes, the representatives for the Tokyo Games with whom I had fought for so long, that enabled me to return to the world of fencing. I thought about what I most wanted to do, what I could put my heart into, and in the end, I decided, "I'll continue with fencing." It wasn't a decision made when I was at rock bottom after failing to make the team; rather, I went back to my original intention and chose the feeling of "I want to compete as an Olympic representative." At the time of the Paris Games, after the Tokyo Games, I would still be only 27. That's an age where I can still compete fully as an athlete. I realized I couldn't just quit there, and I was finally able to look forward.

-During that time, it became a hot topic when you appeared on the Nippon TV quiz show "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" and brilliantly won the 3 million yen prize money.

Miyawaki: After not being selected for the Tokyo Games team, I was temporarily "unemployed." Every year, I compete in 10 tournaments on overseas trips, and the total cost is about 3 million yen. When I found out that the prize money for the quiz show was exactly the same amount, I applied through the general public call, revealing that I was "a fencer aiming for the Olympics," and was chosen to appear. Some of the quiz questions were ones where my experience from overseas trips was helpful, and I was able to answer all of them correctly. After that, I was able to continue as an athlete while being an employee of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, which brings me to the present.

-And then, in 2024, you were finally selected as a representative for your long-awaited Olympic Games in Paris.

Miyawaki: Yes. The competition results from April of the year before the Games to March of the Games year are used for the selection of representatives, so I competed for a year with that fully in mind. The team is decided in May, two months before the Olympics, so I was on edge until the very end. When it was finally confirmed that I could compete in both the team and individual events, I was truly relieved and thought, "I'm so glad I continued with fencing." The members of this women's foil national team are rivals in domestic competitions, but we are also teammates who have trained together at the Ajinomoto National Training Center. I have the impression that we all grew stronger together.

-The head coach for the women's foil team is Franck Boidin, who formerly led the French national team. Was his contribution to the Japanese team significant?

Miyawaki: It was huge. The first thing Boidin said after watching our practice was, "You are pandas. You have the technique, but you lack the fighting spirit." And then, "Change from pandas to tigers!" It's true that Japanese athletes are quiet and don't shout much during matches. Boidin spurred us on, saying, "Shout more, scream!" He taught us that an athlete who doesn't intimidate their opponent can't win, even with good technique. Only when both technique and spirit are at a high level can you stand at the top of the world... It was because of Head Coach Boidin's teachings that I decided to change my style from defensive to more aggressive. And another person, Assistant Coach Chieko Sugawara, who competed for Japan in three Olympics—Athens, Beijing, and London—was also a huge presence. She gave us advice based on her experience as a national team member, and surpassing her, a holder of numerous titles, became our motivation.

After not being selected for the Japanese team for the Tokyo Games, it was such a difficult time that I even considered quitting fencing, but I feel that it was precisely because of that painful experience that I was able to find what "good fencing" means to me.

-I heard that for the Paris Games, you analyzed data on all the athletes from the participating countries before competing.

Miyawaki: Yes. In domestic competitions, several hundred athletes participate, but for the women's foil at the Paris Games, I think there were a total of 34 athletes from 8 countries. With that number, it's entirely possible to analyze data on every athlete's fighting style. So, I put the analysis results on my phone and devised a strategy for each athlete. I even wrote notes on my hand with a pen right before matches so I wouldn't forget important things.

-In the women's foil team bronze medal match held in August, you won after a close fight to secure the bronze medal. This was the first Olympic medal for Japanese women's fencing, across both individual and team events.

Miyawaki: I was genuinely happy with this result. Being able to parade through the "Champions Park" in front of the Eiffel Tower as a medalist became my most cherished memory. However, after the Games, I also felt the frustration of not getting a result in the individual event, and I also have the feeling that I wanted to win the gold medal in the team event. My overseas trips will continue until next summer, but I have already restarted with the aim of winning individual and team "gold" at the Los Angeles Games in four years. A younger generation of athletes is emerging in Japan, so I want to first defend our number one spot in Asia while honing my ability to compete on the world stage.

-Thanks in part to the medal won by you and the women's foil team, interest in fencing has been growing in Japan.

Miyawaki: Having competed in the Olympics myself, I realized once again how special this event is and how much attention it garners, far more than I had imagined. The level of Japanese fencing, for both men and women, has improved significantly in recent years, so I hope people will continue to support us. As many of you who watched on TV may have noticed, Japanese athletes tend to be smaller and have a shorter reach compared to European athletes. If more larger-framed athletes emerge from the younger generation, we'll be able to have even more exciting battles on the world stage.

However, fencing is a very fast-paced sport, and especially in foil, which I compete in, points are only awarded to the fencer who has the right-of-way by initiating the attack. The rules can be difficult to understand just by watching. To help the general public better understand the highlights of the sport and the excitement of the exchanges of techniques, we need to devise ways to present it more clearly, perhaps using image technology. I hope that by the next Olympics, we can achieve this, and that as many people will be able to watch with excitement as they do for ice skating or shogi on TV.

-A video of you fluently answering questions from foreign media in English was shown on TV. Are you good at languages?

Miyawaki: Not at all! It's just that within the women's national team this time, I somehow became the one "in charge of foreign media" (laughs). In fact, I was constantly reflecting on how I need to study languages much more. I want to improve my English skills more before the LA Games.

-Finally, do you have a message for Keio students?

Miyawaki: My own university days were centered around fencing, but for many university students, those four years are a kind of "moratorium" that they can use freely. I think it's a precious time when you can try anything you want to do, whether it's studying, hobbies, or sports. It's a privilege of being a student to be able to try new things without fear of failure. I hope you will make the most of this privilege.

Also, I really hope you will develop the habit of doing sports to move your body. If you're not good at sports, why not start by cheering on university sports like the Waseda-Keio rivalry? As an athlete myself, I want as many people as possible to know the joy of sports.

And at university, you will be able to meet many friends through studies, hobbies, or sports. When I talk to Keio University alumni, they all say that the friends you make as a student are for life. I felt this keenly at this Olympics, sharing my joy with friends from my girls' high school and university days who came all the way to Paris to support me.

-Thank you for your time today.

This article was originally published in the "Keio University alumni Profile" section of "Juku" WINTER 2025 (No. 325).