Profile

Ryo Yonezawa was born in 1997 in the city of Sakura, Chiba Prefecture.
Diagnosed with an intellectual disability at the age of three, he joined the track and field team in middle school. After graduating, he attended a part-time high school. After a nonprofit organization where he worked during the day recognized his talents in track and field, he began full-fledged training with a coach. Capturing third place in the 800-meter run at the 2014 Chiba Prefecture Para Sports Tournament, he won numerous tournaments and even competed in the 2017 INAS Athletics Championships in Bangkok.

He joined S-Pool as its first athlete employee in April 2018, when he began balancing work at S-Pool Plus with his competitive activities. Even while taking on the challenges of this new environment, he won first place in the Kanto Para Athletics tournament in June of that year, setting a new Asian record. Now employed by S-Pool, he continues his training with the goal of competing in the world championships.

Main results

Awards

Special Award for Outstanding Sportsperson, Chiba Prefecture Para Sports Association
Special Outstanding Athlete Award, Chiba Prefecture Para Sports Association
Outstanding Athlete Award, Sakura City Amateur Sports Association
Athlete awards, Sakura City

Other

Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Torch Relay Chiba Torchbearers

Profile

Aoi Kawashita was born in 2002 in the city of Tateyama, Chiba Prefecture.
Diagnosed with an intellectual disability at the early grades of elementary school.
From 4th grade to junior high school, she attended both regular and special-needs classes, and went on to high school at a special-needs school.
She ran the local family marathon with her family when she was in kindergarten, and joined the track and field club in junior high school, focusing on the 800-meter run and 1500-meter ran. In high school, she knew about the Chiba Prefecture Para Sports Tournament and decided to work hard as a para-athlete.
She joined S-Pool after seeing athletes who were active in both work and competition.

Main results

Profile

Tsutomu Iwata was born in 1974 in the city of Kitami, Hokkaido.
At the age of 33, he suffered a spinal cord injury in a fall at work, from which he became confined to a wheelchair.
After that, he was unable to find a job and spent many days just staying at home, but the captain of his current team and his family knew each other, and he started the competing with the feeling that it was “better than just staying at home...”.
In 2011, he joined S-Pool because “I wanted to work for anything. Currently, he is working and practicing curling at the S-Pool Link, where he has good support and relationships with his boss, senior staff, and others around him, and where there are considerations such as barrier-free access to the office.

Main results