KIRYU Yoshihide

General
CHRONIC DISEASE
In 2015 he was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that affects the inner lining of the large intestine. Despite struggling with the effects of the condition, he was part of the Japanese team that won silver in the men's 4x100m relay at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. "I thought I would need to retire from competitive sport as I didn't know how long I should take a break [for]. I had the worst symptoms during the 2016 Olympic Games. As [the] bleeding didn't stop, I was worried whether I could run. However, in particular, I wanted to participate in the men's 4x100m relay for the team, and maybe it was a good thing that I was knocked out of the [individual] 100m heat. Stress makes the symptoms worse, but I got stressed due to so much criticism received via social media after the 100m heat. But thanks to my teammates, I was able to run in the relay, and it was the most memorable event, as I hadn't received compliments about my performance for so long before that relay. That's why I still love to run with them, and it led me to continue the sport." (YouTube channel, 29 Sep 2022; nikkansports, 29 Sep 2022)

BREAK
In June 2022 he took a three-month break from the sport. He resumed training in October that year, and returned to competitive action in March 2023 at an event in Australia. "For the first time in my life, I was completely away from the sport for three months. I enjoyed running until grade 12 of high school. However, at some point, setting a record in the nine-second range weighed heavily on me. For the past five years, I have only heard sighs wherever I competed, rather than compliments about my performance. Of course, that's why I eventually set the record. But I wanted to experience more joy while running, so I decided to take a rest." (YouTube channel, 29 Sep 2022; nikkansports, 22 Apr 2023)

In 2017 he became the first Japanese sprinter to run the 100m in under 10 seconds when he was timed at 9.98s at the 2017 Japan Student Tournament Championship. (espn, 10 Sep 2017; apnews, 09 Sep 2017)

He became the first Japanese sprinter to win a medal in the 100m at the junior world championships following his bronze at the 2014 edition in Eugene, OR, United States of America. (nikkansports, 14 Dec 2017; SportsDeskOnline, 08 May 2020)