Thoughts on the Olympics | Hitoshi Takano (SFC Administrative Director)

2012.10.12

It has been quite some time since the excitement of the London Olympics, but as "the Olympics" is our theme, I would like to share a few thoughts.

First, to Tateishi-kun, Yamagata-kun, Doi-san, and Takakuwa-san, who participated in the Olympics and Paralympics from SFC, thank you for your hard work. Congratulations to Tateishi-kun on his bronze medal in swimming.

Congratulations to Miyake-kun from the Faculty of Letters on the team silver medal in fencing. To SFC graduate Yokota-san, and to our great Keio Juku senior, Hoketsu-san, thank you for your hard work.

A debriefing session was held at Mita on October 1, and another was held at SFC on October 11. At the SFC session, the four current SFC students and SFC graduate Yokota-san were able to gather. They used the courtyard stage, set up early for the autumn festival, to talk about their aspirations for four years from now. As the dean also mentioned, I was impressed by their wonderful attitude of balancing their athletic activities while maintaining their class attendance.

I hope that all the current students who participated will share their valuable experiences during their campus life from now on and provide good inspiration for other students.

And at this year's London Olympics, what I want to focus on are the gold medal won by boxer Murata and the silver medal won by archer Furukawa. The commonality between these two is that they are university employees.

As I am also a university employee, I was deeply moved by their achievements. Although university employees also competed in other events at the Olympics, I think it is an incredible feat to compete at the world's top level while also working as a university employee.

Of course, I believe that having university students as training partners and having access to university facilities are advantages unique to university employees. Even so, I think that balancing work and practice to maintain their strength as top-tier athletes is a testament to their strong will and effort.

Now, when it comes to my memories of the Olympics, they are not all so admirable.

Looking at it this way, I feel that this festival of sports brings various issues to the forefront.

And from this year's London Olympics, the issue of the uninspired matches in badminton remains in my memory.

Some people commented that it was something that could happen, considering the system of the preliminary league and the final tournament. That may indeed be true. If so, it would be necessary to reform the system.

However, it is my opinion that precisely because they were athletes chosen to compete on that stage, I wish they had not played such a match.

In the world of shogi, there is something called the "Yonenaga Theory," named after Mr. Yonenaga, the chairman of the Japan Shogi Association. The gist of it is, "Even if a match is not one that affects your own promotion or demotion (even if it's a dead rubber match), if it is such an important match for your opponent, you must go all out to defeat them." Of course, they probably fight every match with all their might, but perhaps it is the nature of human competition that when you see your opponent's situation, your motivation may not be at its peak. Perhaps it serves as a warning against this, and perhaps it also implies that the results of that time will come back to you later, but I believe that in a competition where there are winners and losers, this kind of fighting spirit is extremely important.

This is because it is a sign of respect for your opponent, and also respect for the sport you are playing itself.

The festival of sports that is the Olympics always offers some kind of insight, even for those like me who just watch and cheer.

I look forward to the excitement in four years being about bright topics, not dark ones.

(Date of publication: 2012/10/12)