Kosuke Kitajima keen to swim at Rio Olympics

TOKYO (AFP) –

Japan’s Kosuke Kitajima is seen competing in the 200m breaststroke swimming event at the London 2012 Olympic Games, in August. Japan’s four-time Olympic swimming champion Kitajima, who missed out on an individual medal at the London Games, says he is keen to line up at the poolside in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

Japan’s four-time Olympic swimming champion Kosuke Kitajima, who missed out on an individual medal at the London Games, says he is keen to line up at the poolside in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

“While younger swimmers are coming up, I want to go to Rio, too,” Kitajima, 30, told a party held in Tokyo on Thursday in honour of Japanese swimmers who collected a record 11 medals in London, according to local media.

Kitajima, who took gold in the 100m and 200m breaststroke at the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Olympics, finished fifth in the 100m and fourth in the 200m in London but bagged a silver as a member of Japan’s 4x100m medley relay.

In London, Japan got three silvers and eight bronzes but no gold in swimming.

After Kitajima’s failure, 18-year-old Akihiro Yamaguchi set a new 200m breaststroke world record on September 15, vowing to become his successor.

At Japan’s national games, the high school student clocked two minutes 07.01 seconds, breaking the previous world mark of 2:07.28 set by Daniel Gyurta of Hungary on August 1 at the London Olympics.