Women of the Wheel: Yui Kamiji

Womanica

Acast Creative Studios

History, Society & Culture, Education

4.3 • 920 Ratings

🗓️ 25 September 2025

⏱️ 6 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Yui Kamiji (1994-present) is a Japanese professional wheelchair tennis player. She won 32 major titles at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics and a gold for both singles and doubles at the 2024 Paralympics.

For Further Reading:

This month, we’re talking about Women of the Wheel – icons who turned motion into momentum and spun their legacies on spokes, skates and potter’s wheels. These women harnessed the power of the axle, pushing their crafts and professions forward through their works and lives.

History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.

Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.

Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Sara Schleede, Paloma Moreno Jimenez, Luci Jones, Abbey Delk, Adrien Behn, Alyia Yates, Vanessa Handy, Melia Agudelo, and Joia Putnoi. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, and this is Womanica. This month we're talking
0:07.3	about women of the wheel, icons who turned motion into momentum and spun their legacies on spokes,
0:12.8	skates, and potter's wheels. These women harness the power of the axle, pushing their crafts and
0:18.1	professions forward through their works and lives.
0:21.6	Today's Wamanican has brought the power of the wheel to a sport that might not make you think of circular motion, tennis, specifically wheelchair tennis.
0:30.6	From winning gold at the 2024 Paralympics to dominating the clay courts at Roland Garros, this Japanese wheelchair tennis player has emerged as one of the sports top athletes.
0:42.3	Please welcome Yuwi Kamiji.
0:45.3	Dashing to and fro in her modified wheelchair,
0:48.3	Yuwi has worked to make herself a speedy and challenging opponent.
0:52.3	Coordinating wheelchair movement and deploying her
0:55.0	tennis racket with precision, she's brought her dominance and determination to the court
0:59.5	from when she was just 11 years old. Ui was born with congenital spina bifida occulta,
1:06.4	which impacted her ability to walk from early on, until she began using a wheelchair at the age of 11.
1:13.2	That did not stop her from wanting to play tennis with her sister as a child.
1:18.3	Ui recall seeing a wheelchair tennis player and being enraptured by their movement and how the
1:22.9	wheelchair aided their agility.
1:25.6	He moved really well and I thought if I use a wheelchair, I can do more,
1:29.5	Ui said. Ui began to dedicate herself to tennis, first by playing locally in Japan.
1:37.5	Early on, she did not even want to participate in any tournaments. She just wanted an audience to
1:42.6	watch her if she was winning. Slowly, however,
1:46.8	she began participating in competitions until she was ranked number one in the country at just 14 years
1:52.5	old. U.E. competed in her first major competition at the age of 18, when she was still a high
	...

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