After the conclusion of Sunday’s 7th, and final, day of the 2012 Japanese Olympic Swimming Trials, a roster of 27 swimmers were named. Though during the meet it felt like there were a slew of potential Olympic qualifiers who are being left home, ultimately in 72 events, there were only 6 swimmers who won an event and won’t be headed to London – though there are several situations where it will be up to the National Team staff to decide who swims which events.
Overall, this is one of the more balanced lineups we’ve seen so far, with 13 men and 14 women (and about an even split of potential medalists as well – though the men should win one-or-two more).
Below is the complete roster, with the most likely Olympic medalists in bold.
Men (13)
Kosuke Hagino
Ryosuke Irie
Yuki Kobori
Takeshi Matsuda
Yuya Horihata
Kosuke Kitajima
Ryo Tateishi
Ken Takakuwa
Takuro Fujii
Kazuki Watanabe
Chiaki Ishibashi
Sho Sotodate
Kazuya Kaneda
Women (14)
Miho Takahashi
Yuka Kato
Satomi Suzuki
Mina Matsushima
Haruka Ueda
Hanae Ito
Miyu Otsuka
Yayoi Matsumoto
Aya Takano
Kaneko Watanabe
Izumi Kato
Miki Uchida
Aya Terakawa
Natsumi Hoshi
If Hagino continues his trajectory form, he can be a medalist, too.
But I’ve got a sense that the japanese, with the exception of very few (Kitajima), will continue their tradition: swimming fast at their trials only to have so-so swims at the Olympics.
Their extremely tough qualifying cuts do not help either, it’s as if all the swimmers already laid out everything they have in the trails.