Kosaku Sumiyoshi ( ja, 住吉耕作; 1 October 1907 – 1971)Biography of Kosaku Sumiyoshi
was a Japanese track and field athlete. He represented his country twice at the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

(1928 and 1932) and was the first Asian to compete in the Olympic javelin throw. He was a three-time gold medallist at the Far Eastern Championship Games and the only person to win two javelin titles at the competition.

Career

Born in

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 ...

, Japan,Kosaku Sumiyoshi
Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2015-01-13. he first emerged as a javelin thrower at the

1927 Far Eastern Championship Games The 1927 Far Eastern Championship Games was the eighth edition of the regional multi-sport event, contested between China, Japan and the Philippines, and was held from 28–31 August 1927 in Shanghai, Republic of China. A total of eight sports were ...

held in Shanghai. His winning mark of was an improvement of over five metres on the previous games record set two years earlier.Far Eastern Championships
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-01-13. He made his Olympic debut for

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 ...

at the

1928 Amsterdam Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics ( nl, Olympische Zomerspelen 1928), officially known as the Games of the IX Olympiad ( nl, Spelen van de IXe Olympiade) and commonly known as Amsterdam 1928, was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from ...

and placed thirteenth in the qualifying round with a mark of . This appearance made his Asia's first ever entrant into the Olympic javelin throw. He stayed in Europe for a few weeks that August to compete at the

1928 Summer Student World Championships The 1928 Summer Student World Championships, was the fourth editions of the Summer Student World Championships, were organised by the Confederation Internationale des Etudiants (CIE) and held in Paris, France. Held from 9–17 August, a total of 30 ...

in Paris and there he defeated all comers with a throw of to win the gold medal in a games record.World Student Games (Pre Universiade)
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-01-13. Sumiyoshi continued his regional dominance at the

1930 Far Eastern Championship Games The 1930 Far Eastern Championship Games was the ninth edition of the regional multi-sport event and was held from 24 to 27 May 1930 in Tokyo, Empire of Japan. A total of eight sports were contested over the course of the five-day event.Bell, Dani ...

in Tokyo. He defended his javelin title with a games record of , which was ultimately the best ever throw in the history of the competition. This made him the first and only person to win two javelin Far Eastern titles. He also won a second gold for the host nation, scoring 2838 in the athletics pentathlon to top rankings as part of a Japanese medal sweep of the event. He travelled to Vienna that year to compete against Western competitors and had a lifetime best throw of – a feat which ranked him seventh globally that year. A year later, he was again over the sixty-six-metre mark, having a season's best of in the Japanese capital and ranking eighth in the world.Kosaku Sumiyoshi
Brinkster Track and Field. Retrieved on 2015-01-13. He confirmed his form prior to the

1932 Los Angeles Olympics The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932 in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held duri ...

with a mark of in Tokyo in May. He was selected for the 1932 Olympic javelin alongside teammate

Saburo Nagao Saburo Nagao (25 August 1910 – 13 December 1943) was a Japanese track and field athlete. He competed in the men's javelin throw at the 1932 Summer Olympics The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also kno ...

and managed to finish in eighth place with . In his last recorded season of athletic competition, he recorded in September 1933 in São Paulo, placing twelfth globally.

International competitions

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sumiyoshi, Kosaku 1907 births 1971 deaths Japanese male javelin throwers Japanese pentathletes Olympic male pentathletes Olympic athletes for Japan Athletes (track and field) at the 1928 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1932 Summer Olympics Japan Championships in Athletics winners 20th-century Japanese sportsmen Sportspeople from Hiroshima