Yoshiaki Yatsu Starts Croudfunding Campaign To Make Wrestling A Paralympic Sport
Legendary Amateur and Professional wrestler, Yoshiaki Yatsu, announced his intent to help make wrestling, the amateur version, an official Paralympic sport through a crowdfunding campaign on Campfire.
On the fundraiser’s page, Yatsu set a goal of 3 million yen in order to help fund the Japan Para Wrestling Federation NPO, publications regarding “Para Wrestling”, and other events to help spread the word. The fundraiser has already raised 238 thousand yen, good for 7 percent of the goal, since it began on September 15. The crowdfunding period will come to an end on October 31.
In a personal message written by Yatsu, the former longtime tag partner of Jumbo Tsuruta told his story and gave his reasoning for why this matters to him so much.
“In 2019, I had my right leg amputated due to diabetes. From the depths of despair, I went on to carry the Tokyo Olympic torch with my prosthetic leg, made my comeback in the pro wrestling ring, and now taking on a challenge that no one in the world has ever attempted before. I aim to establish wrestling as an official Paralympic sport. I have launched this crowdfunding campaign to gather support for this challenge.”
-Yoshiaki Yatsu
Yatsu went on to explain that while most sports like basketball, tennis, and swimming do have visibility in the Paralympics, wrestling somehow does not, even though there are individuals all around the world with the acumen and desire to compete.
Another reason Yatsu gave was because of his own desire to compete in this competition, even at his advanced age.
“I once heard Chairman Yasuhiro Yamashita talk about the “Phantom Olympians.” He was referring to athletes who were unable to compete in The Olympics due to political reasons or various other circumstances. I realized that I am one of them. I want to compete as a Paralympian. But there is no wrestling event at the Paralympics. The very stage on which I can compete doesn’t exist.”
–Yoshiaki Yatsu
What Yatsu was referring to here was that back in 1980, he was scheduled to participate. However, after the United States bowed out of the competition because they were being held in the Soviet Union, Japan followed their ally and bowed out as well. It was around that time when Yatsu began his pro wrestling career for of all places the WWF. He then went on to wrestle for NJPW before becoming a bigger star in AJPW.
It’s unclear if this endeavor will have any legs in Japan, but comments on the Campfire page have been cheering him on.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on Yoshiaki Yatsu and his goal to make amateur wrestling a Paralympic sport, as soon as we hear more.
All translations via DeepL.
