People : The Hope of the Disabled Swimming Race World of the
Went in for the Paralympics
Mr. Junpei Kimura

Mr. Kimura was born in 1985 in Hyogo and grew up in Tokyo. He has used crutches since he was in a kindergartner because of a congenital deformity of the leg. He's a graduate of Kosei Gakuen High school, currently a sophomore of the School of Education and a member of the swimming club. In his third year in high school, he was selected as an important swimmer by the Japan Swimming Federation for the Disabled and took part in the IPC (International Paralympics Committee) World Swimming Championship. He competed in the Athens Paralympics this summer and took sixth place.

Mr. Kimura was born in 1985 in Hyogo and grew up in Tokyo. He has used crutches since he was in a kindergartner because of a congenital deformity of the leg. He's a graduate of Kosei Gakuen High school, currently a sophomore of the School of Education and a member of the swimming club. In his third year in high school, he was selected as an important swimmer by the Japan Swimming Federation for the Disabled and took part in the IPC (International Paralympics Committee) World Swimming Championship. He competed in the Athens Paralympics this summer and took sixth place.

Mr. Kimura, who walks around the campus with crutches, is a star swimmer. He came in sixth in the Athens Paralympics, though he said, “I was lucky to be able to participate in the Paralympics. I really aimed to get a medal but it was good result considering that I'm still developing." He has already set his sights on the Beijing Paralympics.

Crutches are necessity for him since he suffers from a congenital leg deformity. When he was in the first year of elementary school, he enjoyed splashing and playing in water, so his mother took him to a swimming school near his house. He has belonged to swimming clubs since he was a junior high school student. When he was in the second year in high school, a swimming coach said to him "You have what it takes to succeed in the swimming world of the disabled." This coach's words were his turning point. He first took part in the Japan Paralympics, and then he won the chance to compete in the IPC World Swimming Championship. Finally, he went in for this Paralympics. "In Athens, I was impressed with the swimmers who were more handicapped than I. When I saw their good results, I thought I could do it, too." he said.

Mr. Kimura, who has grown up without serious discrimination, thinks that our society should be a symbiosis between the ordinary and the disabled, because, he said, "We can understand each other if we live together." He chose this subject for the short essay in the university entrance examination. “I had confidence about this essay, and my idea is still the same. This is my belief.

He has thought that he would like to become a teacher of social studies. But now he is also interested in being a top athlete. He wishes to study at a foreign university where sports for the disabled are developed and rooted in society. He also wants to train in ideal surroundings. He said, "But this is merely one of many choices." Mr. Kimura's future is full of possibilities.