The Paris Olympics: Acclaim for Kitaguchi! | Hiroyuki Ishida, Dean of the Graduate School of Health Management
August 29, 2024
The Paris Olympics concluded on August 11. I was involved in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics as a member of the organizing team, but as you know, the Games were held without spectators and ended unceremoniously, leaving me with no real-life experience of the event. Watching the Paris Games, where the excitement of the crowd could be felt even through a screen, I am surely not the only one who felt that this is how sports should be. I also attended the closing ceremony at the new National Stadium, and seeing that production, which felt like an end to everything, no one could have imagined that three years later in Paris, such a grand event could be held without masks or social distancing. But the French pulled it off. From the parade of nations on the Bateaux Mouches and the opening ceremony that mobilized the entire city of Paris, to the triathlon and open water swimming in the Seine River, they delivered on every promise, which can only be described as magnificent. At these Games, COVID-19 was a thing of the past, but terrorism was cited as a new threat. Long before any of you students were born, the Olympics had the painful experience of being a target of terrorism. This was at the 1972 Munich Games, where our senior alumnus Tsunekazu Takeda also participated in the equestrian events. At those Games, a tragic incident occurred where Palestinian guerrillas infiltrated the Olympic Village, took over the Israeli team's dormitory, and took the athletes hostage, resulting in the deaths of all the hostages. With localized wars and ethnic conflicts continuing live around the world even during the Paris Olympics, the fear that the Munich nightmare might be repeated could not be dispelled. However, despite a minor terrorist incident that disrupted the railways early in the Games, the event proceeded without major trouble. The crisis management, undertaken for the nation's prestige, can also be called magnificent. By the way, for students interested in the events of the Munich Games, I recommend Steven Spielberg's film "Munich" (2006), which depicts what happened after the terror attack. (In addition, watching the NHK *Eizo no Seiki Butterfly Effect* episodes "Israel," "The Olympic Flame and the Flames of War," and "100 Million Kalashnikovs" from the archives will deepen your understanding of the current wars in the Middle East).
Now, in the field of sports medical sciences, which is my specialty, there is another battle at the Olympics: doping control. The act of illegally giving stimulants to racehorses is called "doping," and by extension, the term has come to refer collectively to the illegal administration of drugs or other techniques to athletes (humans) to enhance performance, as well as any attempts to conceal such acts. I am often asked, "Is doping really that effective?" The answer is that for certain sports, it is extremely effective, which is why it must be regulated. It is now a well-known fact that in the past, several countries systematically engaged in doping to promote national prestige, and I imagine that the immaturity of drug detection technology was a factor behind this.
By the way, if you look at world records across various sports, you'll see that while records are broken over time in many events, there are some events where records set in the 1980s still stand. While one could argue that exceptionally talented athletes just happened to emerge during that era, given that doping is effective in many of these events, the prevailing view is that these records are the result of evading tests (and they may never be broken). Here is some interesting data. If you look at the winning records for all track and field events at the 2004 Athens Games, not a single new world record was set (only a world record tie in the 110-meter hurdles). The records were generally poor compared to previous Games, but the trend was particularly strong in throwing events (javelin, hammer, discus, shot put), where the effects of doping are more pronounced (with results around 10% below world records). How should this be interpreted? In fact, the Athens Games were a major turning point for doping tests. The "World Anti-Doping Code," a unified set of anti-doping rules, was applied, and the latest testing technologies were introduced. In other words, it was the Games where the World Anti-Doping Agency and the International Olympic Committee got serious about eradicating doping. In fact, several athletes in track and field throwing events were disqualified for doping violations. Many of you may remember that hammer thrower Koji Murofushi was awarded the gold medal as a result of this measure.
I speculate that the reason for this downward trend in performance is that athletes who had been relying on the power of "dope" refrained from using drugs in anticipation of stricter testing starting with the Athens Games. Of course, I have no intention of claiming that all records were made with the help of drugs, but the unfair situation where those who doped and those who did not competed together was finally beginning to be corrected. As mentioned earlier, Japan has a legend in Koji Murofushi, but until a certain era, track and field throwing events were the exclusive domain of former Eastern Bloc countries, and Japanese athletes were never in contention for medals. However, with the evolution and tightening of doping controls, an era arrived after Athens where even Japanese athletes could compete "fairly." And now, at the Paris Games, Haruka Kitaguchi has won a magnificent gold medal in the women's javelin throw. She has truly achieved a historic feat for the Japanese track and field world, and personally, I am deeply moved that many Japanese athletes can now finally compete in throwing events.
The javelin Kitaguchi threw in the final cut through the sky like the one thrown by Conan in *Future Boy Conan* (directed by Hayao Miyazaki), drawing a beautiful arc before landing 65.80 meters away. When her gold medal was secured, there was likely not a single Japanese person who was not moved by the sight of her joyfully ringing the victor's bell. Her comments in the post-match interview were also wonderful. "In my dreams, I've thrown 70 meters many times, so I'll do my best to make that a reality." Even when a paper is published or a research grant is approved, it cannot give onlookers the kind of spine-tingling thrill that she did. Sports are truly wonderful. This may be an inappropriate expression for the Dean of a Graduate School, but I hope you will understand it as the sentiment of a sports doctor who is part of the world of sports.