Vol. 2: Keio University Olympians / Swimming Club — The Swimmers Who Supported "Swimming Nippon"

2020/06/19

Image: Send-off party for Berlin Olympic athletes at the Utsumi residence (Collection of Fukuzawa Memorial Center for Modern Japanese Studies, donated by Ms. Yuko Ogata)

In the 1920s and 30s, when Japan began participating in the Olympics in earnest, track and field and swimming attracted the most public attention. These two sports accounted for the majority of medals, and within this trend, Olympians were born from the Keio University Swimming Club. One such athlete was Kazuo Noda, who competed in the 1928 Amsterdam Games as the swimming captain. Noda was a prominent freestyle swimmer who had also competed in the 1924 Paris Games during his time at Hamamatsu Commercial High School. Following his lead, his juniors followed suit.

The Swimming Club, which originated from long-distance swimming in Hayama, was founded in 1902, and competitive swimming began in 1913. However, among the Keio athletes who participated in the first Waseda-Keio rivalry aquatic competition in 1927, Noda was the only one with competitive experience from his middle school days; the reality was that the team was far from top-class. A turning point came in 1930. A state-of-the-art pool was completed in Tsunamachi, providing a dedicated practice facility. This established the foundation for their training.

In June 1932, two athletes from Keio participated in the final qualifiers held at the Jingu Pool, the "sacred ground" of swimming established the previous year. Among them, Tatsugo Kawaishi (from Shudo Middle School) was selected for the national team despite finishing fifth in the 100m freestyle final. At the Los Angeles Games in August, he passed the semi-final Group B in first place and moved on to the 100m freestyle final. After turning in fifth place, Kawaishi made a final surge to brilliantly win the silver medal. Ultimately, the Japanese men's swimming team achieved overwhelming results at these Games, winning 5 gold, 4 silver, and 2 bronze medals out of all 6 events. Kawaishi's participation in the Los Angeles Games had a significant impact on the Keio University Swimming Club. Yasuji Miyazaki (Hamamatsu Ichichu), who won gold in the 100m freestyle ahead of Kawaishi and also won gold in the relay, and Reizo Koike (Numazu Sho), the 200m breaststroke silver medalist, were both drawn to Kawaishi's personality during the Games and enrolled in Keio one after another.

For the following Berlin Games, Miyazaki and Koike were selected for their second consecutive Olympics, joined by Noboru Terada (from Mitsuke Middle School) and Yasuhiko Kojima (from Shudo Middle School). Koike won another bronze medal here, and Terada, who competed in the 1500m freestyle, won an upset gold medal, which reportedly caused a sensation in his hometown. A memento remains with the descendants of Kojima, who placed 6th in the 100m backstroke. It is a sign covered with the signatures of the swimming representatives and staff. On the back, it is inscribed: "11th Olympic Games Commemoration. This board was taken by Reizo Koike from the Japanese athletes' waiting room during the Games and given to Mr. Kojima."

After the Berlin Games, the Keio swimming team finally reached its peak. Although they lost the 1937 Waseda-Keio rivalry after a close battle, the following year, under Captain Koike, the Berlin veterans were joined by Tatsumi Takao, Nobumi Shimamoto, Hiroshi Takahashi, Takashi Katayama, and Shunzo Nagahisa. They achieved their long-awaited first victory in the Waseda-Keio rivalry and immediately followed it up by winning their first Japan Intercollegiate Swimming Championships that same year.

Various forms of support lay behind these achievements. Notably, in 1933, Baron Katsuji Utsumi, an alumnus of the Swimming Club, established a training camp within his Tsunamachi estate. All the Keio swimmers who participated in the pre-war Olympics were from Shizuoka or Hiroshima Prefectures, and many of them used this camp as their base of operations for training. The connections forged through the Olympics—from Kawaishi to Koike and Miyazaki—combined with timely infrastructure support, led to an unprecedented golden age that was a special experience of success.

However, it did not last long. Although the 1940 Tokyo Games were forfeited, the Olympics were scheduled to be held in Helsinki that same year. The Japan Championships held in August the previous year served as the qualifiers, where Kojima and Takahashi were selected for the team, and Katayama was chosen as a candidate (Swimming, 1939, No. 67). Kojima, in particular, was one of the most watched athletes after winning the 100m backstroke at the subsequent Intercollegiate Championships with a new meet record. However, World War II broke out in Europe in September, the Helsinki Games were cancelled, and their participation became a dream. Subsequently, Japan entered the Pacific War, and members of the Swimming Club who had graduated went to the battlefield one after another. Kawaishi, Kojima, and Katayama were killed in action, and the Tsunamachi training camp was destroyed in an air raid.

After the war, Hideo Ninomiya (backstroke) and Toru Furukawa (then at Miyanojo High School, later a Keio student) participated in the 1956 Melbourne Games, and in the following 1960 Rome Games, Keigo Shimizu won a bronze medal in the medley relay. Since then, due to the diversification of the swimming environment, such as the development of swimming clubs following the crushing defeat at the Tokyo Olympics, the club has struggled to recruit athletes. Olympians from Keio in this discipline have been limited to Naoko Imoto (1996 Atlanta, 4th in the 4x200m relay, etc.) and Ryo Tateishi (2012 London, bronze in the 200m breaststroke).