｢本当にできるのかな…｣ 何千回も失敗して掴んだ“新技” 体操･平均台のシンデレラ 岡村真（21）【アジア大会 愛知･名古屋】

The Asian Games in Aichi and Nagoya will begin in September. This time, we followed Makoto Okamura, the gold medalist from the previous Games and a member of the Japanese gymnastics team. At the previous Hangzhou Asian Games, he appeared like a comet—a Cinderella on the balance beam. (Commentator at the time) "Makoto Okamura has won the first gold medal in Asian Games history on the balance beam!" Makoto Okamura (21), from Tsu City, Mie Prefecture, and a member of the Sogo Gymnastics Club, was working to improve his overall abilities by strengthening his weak point, the uneven bars. (Okamura) "I was so bad at it, I wondered if I could really do it. I'm not that dexterous, so I reset my mind from scratch and arrived at my current form." We delve into the evolution of Makoto Okamura, who arrived at his current level after hundreds or thousands of failures. His one day off a week... is spent "baking" all day long. Okamura is a third-year student at Yokkaichi University in Mie Prefecture. Besides gymnastics, her only other hobby for relaxation is... (Okamura) "I bake sweets. On my days off, I bake from morning till night, so my family tells me I bake too much." She always bakes on her one day off a week. In a previous interview, she showed off her professional-level sweet-making skills. Okamura is dedicated to everything she does. During a local competition, when the athletes were cleaning up... (Okamura) "This is a bit dirty... If we're going to do it, we have to make it clean. Ah, I'm tired. It's so clean now!" On the final day of the Asian Games selection trials in May, Okamura competed. She achieved the highest score overall on her specialty, the balance beam, and finished 4th in the individual all-around competition across all four events. She secured her ticket to the Asian Games for the second consecutive time. (Okamura) "I'm so relieved and happy to have made it onto the national team." Asuka Teramoto on Okamura's "evolution"... Okamura's evolution was evident at this competition. The highlight was her first-place finish on the uneven bars. It was actually a weak point for her, but she's been working on improving it since last autumn. (Okamura) "Before, my image of the uneven bars was just to avoid mistakes and connect to the balance beam, but now I can show my strength by making the uneven bars my weapon." Regarding Okamura's evolution, Asuka Teramoto, who competed in two consecutive Olympics, said... (Asuka Teramoto, 30 years old) "Okamura's performance shows the results of her hard work, which is very characteristic of her. I feel like she's mastered four new techniques in the past year." Challenging new techniques... she struggles: "I'm not that skillful." Okamura revised her routine and is challenging herself with new techniques that will allow her to aim for higher scores. One of them is "Ginga." The Ginger is a technique where you release the bar at the moment you swing your body forward, twist your body 180 degrees while doing a backflip, and then grab the bar again with both hands. (Okamura) "When I first started doing the Ginger, I was so bad at it that I wondered if I could really do it. I'm not that dexterous." The practice videos filmed by her coach show her struggling with the Ginger day after day. Even at the top, she never neglected her efforts. After hundreds, even thousands, of failures... it took her six months to master this one technique. And on the balance beam, where she reached the top in Asia, it was the daily accumulation of effort that created her strength. Even in practice that looks like just walking... (Okamura) "Even though it may not look like it, I'm checking things like where to grip with my fingers and making sure to firmly hold onto the platform so that my toes don't turn inward. I think those little details are what allowed me to correct my technique even in the tense moments of a match, because it's a technique that's ingrained in my body." This basic training creates an overwhelming sense of stability that prevents her from falling even if she loses her balance. And this attention to detail helps her on the big stage. "I was able to perform just as I practiced." Three phrases she has cherished since childhood. A balance beam 10 centimeters wide. He loses his balance upon landing, but... (Teramoto) "I think most people would just tumble down, but his ability to recover is much better than many top athletes." (Okamura) "It was within my range of correction, so I felt it was a bit crooked when I jumped, and I was able to execute it just like I practiced." He can do this because he still cherishes the "three words" he adopted when he started gymnastics 12 years ago. (Okamura) "I think the three words that are important for becoming strong are 'perseverance, courage, and practice.'" "I don't plan to go to the class reunion." He continues to practice even on "special days"... The person he was back then created the Okamura Makoto of tod...