|
 The 33-year-old, who won 100 and 200 meter breaststroke gold at
the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Games, could only clock a time of 2
minutes 9.96 seconds to finish fifth in the 200m and outside of the
required time to make the Rio Olympics.
Kitajima, who also won Olympic silver at the London 2012 Games and
two bronze in Athens and Beijing in the 4x100m medley, was given a
warm applause after leaving the Tokyo pool on Friday at the national
championships.
"The result was not good but I was able to swim once again with a
feeling of determination to go to the Olympics. It hurts but I gave
it my best shot," he was quoted as saying by Kyodo News.
Triple world champion Kitajima had already missed out on a spot in
the relay team at the Aug. 5-21 Games in Brazil but said he was
undecided on retirement plans.
[to top of second column] |
"My aim was to make the Olympics. That is over now and I would not
be able to give a proper answer if I spoke for the next few minutes
about what I am going to do next, so I'd like to be allowed to
refrain from commenting," he said.
(Writing by Patrick Johnston in Singapore; editing by Amlan
Chakraborty)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
