Yoshikazu Sakai (酒井喜和, ''Sakai Yoshikazu'') is a Japanese

paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

who competes mainly in category S11 events. Yoshikazu competed in two paralympics for the Japanese swimming team first in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

and then again in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

. In 2000 he set a new world record in both the heats and the final of the 100m backstroke and was part of the Japanese relay team that broke the medley record to beat Great Britain by 0.07 seconds, he also won a silver in the 100m freestyle and a bronze medal in the 100m butterfly after breaking the world record in the heats only to see Raman Makarau and

Ian Sharpe Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, derived from the Hebrew given name (Yohanan, ') and corresponding to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. It is a popular name in Sc ...

go quicker in the second heat and both go even quicker in the final. He also swam in the 400m freestyle finishing fourth and finished sixth in the 50m freestyle. In the 2004 games he had less success, winning just two bronzes, in the freestyle and 100m backstroke, he was also part of the medley team that finished fourth in the and individually finished seventh in the 400m freestyle and 100m freestyle, sixth in the 200m individual medley and fifth in the 100m butterfly.

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* Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Japanese male backstroke swimmers Japanese male medley swimmers Japanese male butterfly swimmers Japanese male freestyle swimmers Paralympic swimmers for Japan Paralympic gold medalists for Japan Paralympic silver medalists for Japan Paralympic bronze medalists for Japan Paralympic medalists in swimming Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics S12-classified para swimmers 21st-century Japanese people {{Japan-Paralympic-medalist-stub