is a retired

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

sprint Sprint may refer to: Aerospace *Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design *Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile Automotive and motorcycle *Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989 *Chevrolet Sprint, ...

er and Japan's fourth-fastest record holder of 100m sprint with a time of 10.00 seconds. He held the 100 metres Japanese national record between December 1998 and September 2017. He is a former Asian record holder in the

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

and

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

, and still holds the indoor record as well as the

4×400 metres relay Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...

record. He is married to former long-distance runner Hiromi Suzuki.

Career

He started out as a

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...

runner and after winning a bronze at the

1991 Asian Athletics Championships The ninth Asian Championships in Athletics were held in 1991 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Medal summary Men's events * Some English-language sources, such as GBR Athletics, erroneously state that Kim Bok-joo was 1991 Asian Championships runner-up ...

, he was selected for the relay at the

1991 World Championships in Athletics The 3rd World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held in the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Japan between August 23 and September 1. 1517 athletes from 167 countries participa ...

and represented his country on home turf. In 1993 he won a bronze medal at the

1993 East Asian Games The 1st East Asian Games were held in Shanghai, People's Republic of China from May 9 to May 18, 1993. The main stadium for the inaugural edition of the games was the Hongkou Football Stadium. Shanghai also hosted a number of sports-themed exhibit ...

and the

1993 Asian Athletics Championships The tenth Asian Championships in Athletics were held in early December 1993 in Manila, Philippines. Medal summary Men's events Women's events Medal table See also * 1993 in athletics (track and field) External links GBR Athletics {{Asian ...

. He managed to reach the quarter-finals of the 200 m of the World Championships that year. His 1994 was highlighted by a

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

at his first

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...

. He represented Japan at the

1996 Atlanta Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

and managed to reach the semifinals of the 200 m and helped the 4×400 m relay to secure fifth place in the final in an Asian record time. He won his first major championship title in 1997, winning the 200 m gold at the East Asian Games, but he did not get past the heat stages at either the IAAF World Indoor Championships or the

World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...

. The following year marked his career peak: he started with a win in the 200 m at the

1998 Asian Athletics Championships The 12th Asian Championships in Athletics were held in Fukuoka, Japan in July 1998. Medal summary Men Women Medal table See also *1998 in athletics (track and field) External linksGBR Athletics {{asian athletics champs Asian Athlet ...

and went on to win a sprint double at the

1998 Asian Games The 1998 Asian Games (), officially known as the 13th Asian Games and the XIII Asiad, was an Asian multi-sport event celebrated in Bangkok, Thailand from December 6 to 20, 1998, with 377 events in 36 sports and disciplines participated by 6,554 ...

in Games record times. In winning the Asian Games 100 m crown on 13 December 1998 (

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...

) he ran a time of 10.00 seconds, during a semi-final heat. This time had been Japanese national record for 19 years until

Yoshihide Kiryū is a Japanese sprinter who specializes in the 100 metres. Born in Hikone, Shiga Prefecture, Kiryū played football while at elementary school and became interested in track and field at junior high school, as his brother took part in the sp ...

shaving 0.02 off in 2017. He was the

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

of the 13th Asian Games. Ito also clocked a personal best of 20.16 s in the 200 m on 2 October 1998 at Kumamoto,

. He put in a strong performance at the 1999 World Indoor Championships, just missing out on the 60 metres final and running an Asian indoor record time for fifth place in the 200 m competition. At the

2000 Sydney Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

, Ito finished seventh in the semi-finals in both the 100 m and 200 m events (10.39 s and 20.67 s respectively) ; the Japanese men's 4x100 m team ( Nobuharu Asahara, Koji Ito,

Shigeyuki Kojima is a retired Japanese people, Japanese sprinter. He competed in the Athletics at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metres, 100 metres and Athletics at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 100 metres relay, 4 × 100 metres relay at the At ...

, Shingo Suetsugu) finished sixth in 38.66 s. Suetsugu later went on to follow in Ito's footsteps as Japan's top male sprinter. Ito never again matched the form of his high-water-mark 1998 season and retired in 2002.

Achievements

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ito, Koji 1970 births Living people Sportspeople from Kobe Japanese male sprinters Olympic athletes of Japan Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Asian Games gold medalists for Japan Asian Games silver medalists for Japan Asian Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 1994 Asian Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1998 Asian Games Medalists at the 1994 Asian Games Medalists at the 1998 Asian Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Japan Japan Championships in Athletics winners Fujitsu people 20th-century Japanese people 21st-century Japanese people