ITAHASHI Minami

General
INJURY SETBACK
She resumed training in August 2019 after undergoing surgery for a stress fracture in March year, but she could not secure a spot in the individual event at the national team's selection trials in February 2020. Despite the postponement of the Olympic Games affording her more time to recover, she admits that she struggled mentally during this period. "I have been aiming for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo since I was in middle school. After the surgery, I couldn't even walk. First of all, it made me feel sad. The sadness of not being able to walk. And then I became too sensitive about the word 'Olympics'. I was nervous to see other teammates qualify for the 2020 Olympics [at the 2019 World Championships], because I had only just began walking again. However, after a text message from a friend, I began thinking that it is okay to move forward, even if it's only one millimetre at a time. With that mindset, I finally felt positive about the word 'Tokyo'." (nikkansports.com, 02 May 2021; daily.co.jp, 13 May 2021; Instagram profile, 06 May 2021; sankei.com, 02 May 2021)