The 24-year-old, who won silver in the men’s 200m butterfly at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, caused a crash that injured another person while driving his own car, Japan Aquatics said in a statement released on Aug. 7.
The crash happened on Nov. 21 last year while Honda was driving privately, and prosecutors indicted him in May, Daily Sports reported. He did not inform the federation until July 31.
Honda had treated the matter as something to be settled between the parties and had not recognized it as requiring disclosure, Sports Hochi reported, and the federation called that a lapse in his own judgment while acknowledging its own failure of oversight.
Dangerous driving causing injury is a criminal offense under Japan’s Act on Punishment of Acts Inflicting Death or Injury on Others by Driving a Motor Vehicle, carrying up to 15 years in prison. Neither alcohol nor drugs were involved in any way, the federation said, according to Sports Hochi.
Kaneko Hidesumi, the federation’s senior managing director, told Daily Sports the disclosure had come as a complete shock and that his immediate concern was the victim’s full recovery. The federation said the case was the first involving criminal proceedings against an athlete during a national team period in its history.
Apologizing to the victim and saying it took its own delay seriously given its accountability to society as a public-interest corporation, the federation said the gravity of the case made it inappropriate for Honda to continue competing as a national representative at international multi-sport events.
In consultation with him, it withdrew him from the Pan Pacific Championships, which run Aug. 12 to 15 at the William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center in Irvine, California, and from the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, which open Sept. 19 and close Oct. 4.
Details of the case will not be released to protect the victim’s privacy and out of deference to procedures being conducted by the relevant authorities, the federation said, adding that it would report again if information warranting disclosure emerged.
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Japanese swimmer Tomoru Honda. Photo courtesy of World Aquatics |
Honda’s first court hearing is scheduled for Aug. 25, Jiji Press reported, with action by both the federation and the Japanese Olympic Committee expected to follow a verdict. A sanction under the federation’s ethics rules would likely mean suspension of Honda’s competitor registration for a set period, barring him from meets and probably from training with his club until it is lifted, Kaneko told Daily Sports.
The federation said it would convene its ethics committee and tighten compliance education for athletes and coaches. Yasuhiro Inoue, the JOC’s high-performance director and head of Japan’s Asian Games delegation, said in a statement carried by Nikkan Sports that everyone connected to Team Japan must remain aware their competitive careers rest on public trust.
In a signed statement appended to the federation’s release, Honda offered his sympathies and apologies to the injured victim and their family, and apologized to supporters, sponsors and others affected.
He said he deeply regretted that his report to his employer and to Japan Aquatics had come a considerable period after both the incident and the indictment, and that he was filled with remorse that his careless conduct had brought sudden and profound fear into the victim’s ordinary life and caused them injury and physical pain.
Honda said he had decided to step back from competition and national team camps for the time being while making sincere dealings with the victim his first priority, adding that he would refrain from detailed comment on the specific facts while criminal proceedings remain underway.
Honda won the 200m butterfly world title in Doha in February 2024 and still holds the short course world record in the event at 1:46.85, set in Tokyo in October 2022.
He failed to advance past the heats at the Paris Olympics later that year, then finished second at Japan’s selection meet this spring to regain a national team place for the first time in two seasons.