was a Japanese businessman, sports administrator and backstroke swimmer who won two medals at the 1932 and 1936 Olympics. During his swimming career Kiyokawa set one world record, in the 400-metre backstroke. Kiyokawa was born in

Toyohashi is a city in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 377,453 in 160,516 households and a population density of 1,400 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . By area, Toyohashi was Aichi Prefecture's second-lar ...

, Aichi Prefecture, and graduated from the Tokyo College of Commerce (now

Hitotsubashi University is a national university located in Tokyo, Japan. It has campuses in Kunitachi, Kodaira, and Chiyoda. One of the top 9 Designated National University in Japan, Hitotsubashi is a relatively small institution specialized solely in social science ...

). Selected as a member of the Japanese swimming team at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, he won the gold medal in the 100 m backstroke event, with teammates Toshio Irie and Kentaro Kawatsu taking the silver and bronze. At the 1936 Berlin Olympics, he placed third in the same event. In 1948, Kiyokawa became a director of the

Japan Swimming Federation The , is the national federation for Aquatics in Japan. It oversees Japan's Swimming, Diving, Water Polo and Synchronized Swimming competitive programs. It was founded on October 31, 1924.International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

from 1975 to 1989, serving as vice chairman from 1979 to 1983. During his tenure, the city of

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most po ...

made a bid for the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

, competing against

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

. Kiyokawa was critical of the large amounts of money being spent by both parties to entertain and influence the votes of the IOC members. He was also critical of the decision of the Japanese government to bow to political pressure from the United States to boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

. Kiyokawa was the CEO of the general trading company Kanematsu Corp. from 1976. He died of pancreatic cancer.

References

External links

Japanese Olympic Committee database

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiyokawa, Masaji 1913 births 1999 deaths People from Toyohashi Hitotsubashi University alumni Olympic swimmers of Japan Olympic bronze medalists in swimming Olympic gold medalists for Japan Olympic bronze medalists for Japan Swimmers at the 1932 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1936 Summer Olympics International Olympic Committee members Deaths from cancer in Japan Deaths from pancreatic cancer Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1932 Summer Olympics Japanese male backstroke swimmers Olympic gold medalists in swimming

See also

References

Further reading

External links