Masae Kasai (河西昌枝 ''Kasai Masae'', 14 July 1933 – 3 October 2013) was a

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

player from

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 ...

, who was a member of the Japan Women's National Team, Oriental Witches, that won the gold medal at the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...

. Masae Kasai was born in

Minami-Alps, Yamanashi is a city located in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 71,618 in 27,956 households, and a population density of 270 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Minami-Alps is Yamanashi Prefecture's thi ...

, and started playing volleyball when the sport was still played with nine players a side in Japan (six are used internationally). She joined the Nichibo fiber spinning company right out of high school, first playing for corporation's Ashikaga (Tochigi) team, later for the one from Kaizuka (Osaka). The latter team dominated the women's sport in the late 1950s and 1960s, and when the Japanese started playing according to international rules, Nichibo Kaizuka's players formed the national team. Kasai and her team mates débuted at the 1960 World Championships, finishing behind the Soviet Union. Two years later, the Japanese won the title, defeating the Soviet squad before a Moscow audience. When volleyball made its Olympic début in Tokyo, they lived up to high expectations by again beating the Soviet Union in the final round-robin match, in straight sets. After the Olympics, team captain Masae Kasai met with the Japanese Prime Minister and complained to him that she had not been able to find a husband because of the difficult training regimen. The Prime Minister set her up with a date and the two later married. She later went on to become a volleyball coach in Japan and China, and sat on the board of the Japanese Volleyball Association. In 2008, she was inducted into the

Volleyball Hall of Fame The International Volleyball Hall of Fame (IVHF) was founded to honor extraordinary players, coaches, officials, and leaders who have made significant contributions to the game of volleyball. The Hall of Fame is located in Holyoke, Massachusetts, ...

. Masae Kasai (who changed her last name to Nakamura after she married) died on October 3, 2013, in Tokyo from

intracranial hemorrhage Intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), also known as intracranial bleed, is bleeding within the skull. Subtypes are intracerebral bleeds ( intraventricular bleeds and intraparenchymal bleeds), subarachnoid bleeds, epidural bleeds, and subdural bleeds. ...

References

External links

Video of the moments of victory and of awarding gold medal in 1964 Tokyo Olympics（the person who receives gold medal, bending down）

1933 births 2013 deaths Sportspeople from Yamanashi Prefecture Volleyball players at the 1964 Summer Olympics Olympic volleyball players for Japan Japanese women's volleyball players Olympic medalists in volleyball Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Japan {{Japan-Olympic-medalist-stub