Hagino Undergoes Successful Elbow Surgery, Out For At Least A Month

Japanese powerhouse Kosuke Hagino proved to be one of Asia’s swimming superstars at this summer’s Olympic Games in Rio. At just 22 years of age, the Tokyo University swimmer nabbed Olympic gold in the men’s 400m IM, while also claiming silver in the 200m version of the same event.

With the new Olympic quadrennial beginning, where Hagino wants to be in prime from in front of his home crowd come the 2020 Games in Tokyo, the dynamic athlete has reportedly just undergone successful elbow surgery.

Per Asian news outlets, Hagino underwent endoscopic surgery to remove the extra bone on his right elbow, which was broken in June of 2015 while Hagino was at staging camp for the FINA World Championships. As a result of that injury last year, Hagino had to sit out the World Championships and refrained from competing until January of this year.

Hagino’s coach, Norimasa Hirai, has said his protegé will be out of the water for about a month, allowing Hagino to ‘fully and carefully’ recover before resuming hard training. Hagino will then be targeting next April’s Japanese Championship as his next major competition.

Below are Hagino’s tweets announcing his surgery, as well as his recovery. Roughly translated, Hagino writes that his elbow surgery was indeed ‘successful.’

報告が遅くなってしまったのですが、明後日28日に右肘の手術を行います。怪我をしてからずっと違和感がありました。手術は四年後を見据えて、今やろうと思います。少しの間また泳げなくなりますが、さらにいい泳ぎが出来るようリハビリから頑張っていきます。

— Kosuke Hagino (@haginokosuke) September 26, 2016

今日退院しました。手術もたくさんの方のお陰で無事成功しました。ギプス取れるまではゆっくりします。

— Kosuke Hagino (@haginokosuke) September 30, 2016