Keio University and the Olympics

2004/10/18

Published in "Juku" 2004, No. 244

The 28th Olympic Games were held in the summer of 2004 in Athens, the birthplace of the modern Olympics. All of Japan was abuzz with the daily medal rush in sports like judo, swimming, and gymnastics. Many Keio students must have been thrilled by the spirited play of Yoshinobu Takahashi (outfielder for the Yomiuri Giants), a Keio University alumnus and the third batter for <Nagashima Japan>. This installment of "Stained Glass" looks back at the achievements of Japanese national team athletes from the Keio Gijuku Shachu in past Olympic Games, introducing several memorable episodes.

The first Olympic Games in which Japanese athletes participated was the 5th Stockholm Games in 1912 (Meiji 45). The Berlin Games four years later were canceled due to the outbreak of World War I. Japan's first Olympic medals were won at its second appearance, in the tennis competition of the 7th Antwerp Games in 1920 (Taisho 9). The memorable medalist was tennis player Ichiya Kumagai, a Keio University alumnus. He won two silver medals, in singles and doubles, earning the honor of being Japan's first Olympic medalist.

After graduating from Keio University, Kumagai worked for Mitsubishi Goshi Kaisha. At the time, he was stationed in New York and was an active top player in the tennis powerhouse of America, along with his doubles partner Seiichiro Kashio (a graduate of Tokyo Higher Commercial School, now Hitotsubashi University, who worked for Mitsui & Co.). Kumagai, in particular, was so skilled that he reached the semifinals of the U.S. Open Championships in 1918 (Taisho 7) and the quarterfinals the following year, ranking third in the United States. Along with Kashio and Zenzo Shimizu, he also became a member of Japan's first Davis Cup team in 1921 (Taisho 10).

For the 10th Los Angeles Games in 1932 (Showa 7), Keio sent a total of 28 officials and athletes, led by team manager Ryozo Hiranuma, known as the "Father of Civic Sports" for his contributions to promoting amateur sports throughout the Meiji, Taisho, and Showa eras.

The roots of "Swimming Kingdom Japan," which saw a revival at the recent Athens Games, can be traced back to these Games. Japanese athletes won an incredible five gold medals out of six men's events. Tatsugo Kawaishi, then a student in the Faculty of Law, also competed in the 100m freestyle and brilliantly won the silver medal.

The Japanese swimming team continued its success at the next event, the 11th Berlin Games. Keio student Noboru Terada won the gold medal in the 1500m freestyle, and Reizo Koike won the bronze in the 200m breaststroke. Also at these Games, in the men's pole vault, Keio's Sueo Oe and Waseda University's Shuhei Nishida shared second and third place after a grueling five-and-a-half-hour battle ended in a tie. The two decided not to have a jump-off for the silver medal, agreeing that Nishida, the senior athlete, would take silver and Oe would take bronze. A heartwarming story remains that after the Games, the two cut their silver and bronze medals in half and fused them together to create the "Medal of Friendship."

Incidentally, Los Angeles Games silver medalist Kawaishi was killed in action 13 years later, in 1945 (Showa 20), during the fierce battle against U.S. forces on Iwo Jima. In this battle, considered the most intense of the Pacific War, Takeichi Nishi, the gold medalist in equestrian show jumping from the same Los Angeles Games, was also killed. Compared to Nishi, who was highly respected even by the Americans and was reportedly urged to surrender during the battle, Kawaishi's tragedy is seldom told. However, a small exhibit commemorating his achievements remains in the Prince Chichibu Memorial Sports Museum inside the National Stadium.

Team manager Hiranuma, who led the delegation at the Los Angeles Games and other events, dedicated himself to the reconstruction of Yokohama as its mayor after World War II. Today, the Hiranuma Memorial Gymnasium stands in Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama, providing a place where many citizens can casually enjoy sports.

At the 1956 (Showa 31) Melbourne Games, the nine members of the Keio Rowing Club's eight-man crew achieved a historic feat, becoming the first in Japanese rowing history to advance to the Olympic semifinals. This remarkable achievement in the famed shell "KEIO" can be attributed to the strong support from the Faculty of Engineering (now the Faculty of Science and Technology). Previously, the School of Medicine, which had many Keio students passionate about rowing, had supported the rowing club's activities by managing the athletes' health and physical condition, providing oxygen inhalation and glucose injections between races. For these Olympic Games, however, an unprecedentedly strong support system for a Japanese university was established—a "medical-engineering collaboration" in sports.

The shell that won the national qualifiers for the Melbourne Games was the "Grenoble," designed by Kazuo Obata, a second-year student in the Faculty of Engineering and a member of the rowing club. This shell, which defeated the favorite Kyoto University in the All-Japan Championships that also served as the Olympic trials, was so superior in performance that it prompted Akira Yokoyama—designer of Kenichi Horie's "Mermaid," the boat that crossed the Pacific—to admit, "I was beaten by Obata's boat."

Subsequently, the "Melbourne Boatbuilding Committee" was formed, led by Professor Toyotaro Suhara of the Faculty of Engineering (at the time), and under the guidance of faculty members, students including Obata and alumni helped design and build the new Olympic shell, the "KEIO." Information reported by rowing club alumni stationed in Australia, such as local wind conditions and the depth of the course, was also incorporated into the new shell's design. The "KEIO" was based on the "Grenoble" but featured improved hydrodynamic performance and radical weight reduction. It was said to have been an "extreme engineering design" solely for the purpose of winning the Olympics, with the design goal of being a boat that would "fall apart the moment it crossed the finish line in the final." However, the shell was not only outstanding in performance but also in aesthetics. So many people flocked to see its artistic body, which featured the straight grain of hinoki cypress and a cashew lacquer finish, that it drew large crowds at the venue.

After its Olympic journey, which ended with a top-eight finish, the "KEIO" was passed into the hands of a Keio University alumnus from South Korea. Years later, in 1979 (Showa 54), the rowing club members from the Melbourne Games visited South Korea and were reunited with the "KEIO." The shell that was supposed to "fall apart the moment it crossed the finish line" responded beautifully to the oar strokes of the crew from 23 years prior, leaving a magnificent wake on a great river in a foreign land.

Then, 23 years after that, in 2002 (Heisei 14), the crew received an invitation from the city of Melbourne to participate in the Masters Games, and they once again joined together to take up their oars.

A roundtable discussion titled "The Secret Story of the KEIO and the Melbourne Olympics" was published in the August 1 issue of this year's "Mita-hyoron (official monthly journal published by Keio University Press)". We highly recommend you read it.