Photo/Illutration Yui Ohashi holds up a gold medal after winning the 200-meter individual medley at the Tokyo Olympics on July 28. (Takuya Isayama)

Swimmer Yui Ohashi has found the winning formula for Olympic success: turn off social media and all distractions ahead of time.

She'll have plenty of time later to read the congratulations flooding in after becoming the first Japanese female swimmer to win multiple medals in individual medley events. 

Ohashi captured the gold medal in the 200-meter individual medley with a time of 2 minutes and 8.52 seconds on July 28, adding to the gold she won in the 400-meter individual medley on July 25. 

Immediately after winning her first gold medal, Ohashi picked up her smartphone and disabled notifications from Twitter and LINE.

She wanted to focus on the 200-meter individual medley event that would start the next day.

“I’ve received so many messages and I am happy about it, but …” she said following her triumph on July 25.

Ohashi was in a similar situation at the world championships in Budapest in 2017.

She was still a no-name swimmer on the global stage at the time. But she won a silver medal in the 200-meter individual medley.

Her Line account was flooded with text messages at all hours of the night, way more than she expected.

“I became very busy replying to those messages,” she recalled.

That broke her concentration for the 400-meter individual medley, an event that she was best at.

She ended up finishing fourth in the race.

Ohashi learned her lesson. This time around, she just shut off all the outside noise.

“I was flying high in 2017. This time, I’m trying not to touch my phone much,” she said.

Norimasa Hirai, head coach of the Japanese swimming team who has trained Ohashi for years, noticed her growth.

To Hirai, Ohashi appeared to have put the glory from her first gold medal behind her quickly and launched herself into the next mode.

“She looks differently from the 400-meter event. She appears to have plenty of room to breathe,” Hirai said.

In the semifinal on the morning of July 27, Ohashi's time was about a second faster than the mark she posted in the qualifying round the previous day.

She advanced to the finals in fifth place overall.

Ohashi looked confident and said she would make adjustments in preparation for the finals. Afterward, she held up her second gold medal at the Games in triumph. 

"This is like a dream come true," Ohashi said. "It doesn't seem real."

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