Tomikawa
Hello Toyota Times listeners, I’m Yuta Tomikawa. This is episode five of Voice-Only Toyota Times News. Chairman Akio Toyoda is joining me for another unscripted chat. Welcome Akio.
Toyoda
Hello everyone.
Tomikawa
Thank you for being here. Let’s get straight into it, starting with the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which recently drew to a close.
To recap, Japanese athletes won a total of 45 Olympic medals—20 gold, 12 silver, and 13 bronze. This was the country’s highest total and the most golds at an overseas Olympic Games.
Meanwhile, the Paralympians brought home 14 gold, 10 silver, and 17 bronze, surpassing the gold medal haul from Tokyo and securing a total of 41 medals. Amid all that excitement, at Toyota we were also following another group: our Toyota athletes from around the world.
Toyota currently supports 277 athletes worldwide, of which 179 competed in Paris. Those numbers alone are impressive.
Toyoda
That’s true. Makes you wonder where we would rank as a country.
Tomikawa
The results were also outstanding, with 36 gold, 24 silver, and 30 bronze for a total of 90 medals across the Olympics and Paralympics. In simple terms, our Toyota athletes won more medals overall than Japan.
These numbers alone show how much the Toyota athletes added to the Olympic and Paralympic excitement in Paris, but beyond the medal count, we also enjoyed watching the showdowns between Global Team Toyota Athletes.
Akio, you are something of a guardian for our Toyota athletes, aren’t you?
Toyoda
We call them GTTA, right?
Tomikawa
Global Team Toyota Athletes.
Toyoda
Since my time as president, I’ve been urging us to become a “best-in-town” company.
And these best-in-town athletes each have their local communities cheering them on.
GTTA compete in a huge range of events, not only the mainstream or popular sports. They have won many medals in Tokyo and at these Games, so that is what stands out.
But even though, like a parent on sports day, I tell them to go out there and win, it’s not about getting onto the awards podium.
More than that, I’m watching the process and the effort that leads there. When it comes to winning medals, luck also plays a part.
I think all our GTTA are putting in the effort, and I want to help them make the most of that hard work. Ability may be limited, but you can always put in more effort. Our number one goal is for people to get behind these athletes.
The media is always inclined to talk about medal tallies, but that’s certainly not my expectation of the GTTA.
At the same time, athletes hate to lose. That’s why, when they compete, I tell them, “Go and win.”
If you take that out of context, it seems like I’m only praising those who win medals, but in fact, the opposite is true. I hope that listeners will understand and endorse that and get behind our athletes.
Tomikawa
Coming from someone who likewise hates to lose, those are inspiring words.
Toyoda
When speaking to athletes, less is more.
I think support is best offered in the most straightforward language possible. That’s why I ended up going with “Go and win.”
Tomikawa
I see. You are an athlete yourself, and having been on the national (hockey) team, I’m sure you understand their position.
Toyoda
In my case, there was no awards podium, and it’s not a mainstream sport. In that sense, I think it was a minor pursuit.
Even so, that doesn’t mean you aren’t working hard because you are. So, as the GTTA guardian, I want to be fair in supporting all athletes, no matter how minor or major the sport.
Tomikawa
As we’ll hear later on, the athletes keenly understand how you feel, and I think that’s why they respond the way they do. Let’s look forward to hearing about it.
