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The impact of the London Paralympics on my life as a disabled person

In 2010, when he was 21 years old, he suddenly collapsed and lost the ability to move his lower body, and was left with paralysis in his left arm. The cause could not be determined at hospitals in his hometown of Shizuoka and in Tokyo, and it took more than a year for him to be diagnosed with “myelitis.” “If the name of the disease is not known, you cannot be issued a disability certificate, and in that condition it is difficult to find employment. It was pretty hopeless. But in 2012 I was diagnosed, and I was finally able to switch my mindset.”

When he was thinking about what he wanted to do next, he happened to see footage of the London Paralympics on his computer, which dramatically changed his destiny.

“It had been about a year and a half since I got sick. I had gone from being able-bodied to being ‘disabled.’ At the time, I had a negative image of people with disabilities as ‘the socially disadvantaged who need care,’ so I had no hope for my own future. It was during this time that I saw the Paralympics for the first time. Seeing the athletes running in wheelchairs around the stadium, standing on the stage representing their country, I thought ‘these people are so cool.’ I thought ‘alright, next I’ll go to the Rio Paralympics and win a gold medal.'”

From there, there was no hesitation or waste in her actions. “First, I wondered if there was anyone in Shizuoka doing para-athletics. I asked an acquaintance at an NPO to introduce me to someone who competed in para-athletics in the prefecture. I arranged to borrow a racer (a racing wheelchair), and then I took action step by step, thinking about what I needed to do to win the gold medal.”

“The reason I chose athletics is because I can feel the wind. Just running a little or hurrying somewhere. I felt the wind in my everyday life, but I had forgotten that since I started using a wheelchair. I could experience that feeling of “cutting through the wind” as a racer, so athletics was my only choice at the time.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Sato, a Paralympic gold medal winner.”

His first competition was the marathon in December of the same year. Sato greeted his senior Paralympians by saying, “Nice to meet you. I’m Sato Tomoki, and I’ll be competing in the next Rio Paralympics and winning a gold medal. I look forward to working with you.” “I was over 20kg heavier then and a beginner, so they said to me later, ‘What is this guy talking about?’ (laughs).” Still, undeterred, he spoke to the people at the company that makes competitive wheelchairs, saying, “I’m going to win a gold medal in Rio, so please support me.”

Of course, he didn’t get support right away, but without his own racer, he couldn’t move on to the next step. After completing this race, he approached his parents and they paid for his first racer.

“When my parents thought about how I would have to work for people with disabilities and make a living after I got ill, I think they were worried about whether I would be able to survive on my own. But when they saw me at the London Paralympics, they thought, ‘If I make it this far, they won’t have to worry about me.’ If I win a gold medal, then my parents won’t have to worry about me.”