Olympic and Paralympic Athletes of Keio University

Information on the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games is available here.

Here, we also introduce several episodes from past Olympic Games.

Keio University graduate Satoshi Furuno (Faculty of Law) traveled to Milano Cortina to compete in the 25th Olympic Winter Games, making his second appearance at the world’s premier winter sports competition. In the February 21 men’s freestyle ski cross contest, Furuno placed fourth, achieving the best result of any Japanese athlete in the event’s Olympic history. After advancing through the qualifying heats ranked second overall, Furuno also delivered a standout showing in the finals, where he tenaciously pursued his rivals in a neck-and-neck race. While he may have fallen just short of a medal, Furuno’s gallant performance was one for the record books.

Paris 2024 saw three medalists from Keio University take the podium, winning medals in both individual and team events at the Olympic Games. Kazuki Iimura was part of the men's foil fencing team that won Japan's first gold medal in that event. Karin Miyawaki, a Keio alumna, secured the bronze medal in the women's foil fencing team event. This victory was Japan's first medal in that event. She also became the first female athlete from Keio to win a medal at the Olympics. Five days later, Nonoka Ozaki clinched the bronze medal in the women's 68kg freestyle wrestling event, becoming Keio's first female athlete to win an Olympic medal while still being a student.

Ryota Yamagata served as captain of Japan's delegation at the Olympic Games while Takashi Ono was appointed team captain during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. This means that a Keio University alumnus was chosen for both of the past two Olympics held in Tokyo.

In the men's team archery event, Hiroki Muto and his teammates won the bronze medal, making it the first Olympic podium appearance for Japan in the event.  

Having also competed in the London Games, Ryota Yamagata won a silver medal in an historic Men's 4x100m Relay, setting a new Japanese and Asian record. In addition, Munetomo Ginga finished fourth in the Men's Trampoline Individual.

First Keio student to compete in the Winter Olympics since Fumio Igarashi (figure skating) at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics. Narumi Takahashi paired with Ryuichi Kihara (Chukyo University) to compete in the new Team Figure Skating event in which Japan finished fifth.

Four Keio students and two Keio alumni competed in these Games. This was the first time since the 1996 Atlanta Games that Keio students had competed in the Olympics. It also ended a fifty two-year wait since the 1960 Rome Games for a Keio student to win a medal in an official event. This was the second Olympics in a row for equestrian Hiroshi Hoketsu who further renewed his record as the oldest athlete to have competed for the Japanese team, participating at the age of 71.

Hiroshi Hoketsu, the first equestrian to compete at the Olympics since the 1964 Tokyo Games, became a topic of conversation for setting what was then a record for the oldest athlete to compete for the Japanese team, participating at the age of 67. Yasuharu Sorimachi also took part as coach of the Japan national under-23 football (soccer) team.

Yasunori Miyabe, who also won the men's all-round title in the All Japan Sprint Speed Skating Championships, competed at this Olympics, finishing fifth in the Men's 500m.

A year earlier, Keio had won the All Japan University Baseball Championship Series. Tetsu Suzuki and Takeshi Omori took part in the baseball demonstration event.

The former Japanese Olympic Committee President Tsunekazu Takeda competed in the equestrian. Following Montreal, this was the second consecutive Games that he competed in.

Keio alumnus Yasutaka Matsudaira, who in 1998 was the first non-American to be inducted into the Volleyball Hall of Fame, took part as an assistant coach of the men's volleyball team. The team won a bronze medal. Matsudaira was later appointed head coach, leading the team to another bronze medal at the Mexico City Games and a gold medal at the Munich Games.

Takashi Ono again played a big role following his performance at the Melbourne Games. He became the driving force behind Japan's Team All-Round gold medal, having won gold in the Horizontal Bar and Vault, silver in the Individual All-Round, and bronze in the Parallel Bars and Rings.

In Gymnastics, Takashi Ono, who was competing in his fourth consecutive Games including Helsinki when he participated as a student of the Tokyo University of Education, gave a remarkable performance in which he won five medals including gold in the Horizontal Bar.In Rowing, a crew from Keio University competed in the Eight. The brave fight put up by the famed boat "KEIO" assisted by the Faculty of Engineering ultimately came up short as the crew was brought to tears in the semi-finals. The untold story of the Keio Eight was published on August 1, 2004, in the August/September edition of Mita-hyoron, the official monthly journal published by Keio University Press.  

The performances of the Japanese swimming team were once more outstanding at this Olympics, with Keio University's Noboru Terada winning gold in the 1500m Freestyle and Reizo Koike winning bronze in the 200m Breaststroke.

Additionally, in Athletics, Keio University's Sueo Oe and Waseda University's Shuhei Nishida tied for second and third with the same record in the Pole Vault after a grueling five-hour duel. A famous anecdote from the time is that upon their return to Japan the two cut their respective medals in half and made "friendship medals" from combining the two halves of each other's medals together.  

At this Games, Keio University sent a total of 28 athletes and staff, foremost of which was athlete team leader Ryozo Hiranuma who is known as the father of civic sports in Japan.

Among the members of the swimming team that made it known to the world that Japan was a kingdom for swimming by winning gold medals in five out of the men's six events, was Tatsugo Kawaishi from Keio University who won a silver medal competing in the 100m Freestyle. In addition, Keio University, to which hockey can trace its roots as the first school in Japan to play the sport in 1906, sent Masuyuki Asakawa, Shunkichi Hamada, and Eiichi Nakamura as members of the Japanese team that competed as one of three countries participating, going on to win silver behind India after defeating the U.S.A.  

Seiichiro Tsuda was ranked in consecutive Games finishing 6th in this Olympics and 5th at the next Games in Los Angeles. He was able to fully draw on the ability that allowed him to win the 1500m, 5000m, and 10000m in the Japanese Championships.

This was the second Games that Japan participated in, with Ichiya Kumagai from Keio University competing in the tennis. Although there was stark difference in ability with athletes from around the world in other events, Kumagai became the first Japanese medalist after winning silver in the Singles as well as the Doubles, for which he partnered Seiichiro Kashio.