Masanori Sugiura (杉浦正則, born May 23, 1968) is a retired

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

Olympic baseball player from

Kudoyama, Wakayama 270px, Jison-in temple is a town located in Ito District, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 3,996 in 1770 households and a population density of 91 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Geogra ...

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 ...

. Sugiura was the ace pitcher of the

Nippon Life Insurance Company , also known as or is the largest Japanese life insurance company by revenue. The company was founded in 1889 as the ''Nippon Life Assurance Co., Inc.'' In structure it is a mutual company. It first paid policyholder dividends in 1898. Over ...

baseball team, and was chosen to join the Japanese national team in the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

, where he won a bronze medal. He returned to the olympics four years later, winning a silver medal at the

1996 Summer 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, ...

.Olympic results
/ref> Professional players were allowed to participate in the

2000 Summer 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 ...

, but Sugiura was still chosen as the captain of the Japanese national team, and the captain of the entire Japanese olympic team in

. The Japanese team did not win a medal that year. Sugiura refused numerous offers to join the Japanese professional leagues, and retired in 2000. The

baseball team won the Intercity Baseball Tournament twice during the 10 years Sugiura played with the team. He also marked a record five career wins in the olympic tournaments. He served as a pitching coach for his team from 2001–2004, and became the manager in 2006.

References

1968 births Living people Baseball players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Baseball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Baseball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic baseball players of Japan Olympic bronze medalists for Japan Olympic silver medalists for Japan People from Wakayama Prefecture Olympic medalists in baseball Asian Games medalists in baseball Baseball players at the 1990 Asian Games Baseball players at the 1994 Asian Games Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Asian Games gold medalists for Japan Medalists at the 1994 Asian Games 20th-century Japanese people {{Japan-Olympic-medalist-stub