was a Japanese

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete. , he is the only person to have held

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

s in both the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

and the

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down the tr ...

Biography

The first results known for Nambu are from the mid-1920s. He was a member of the Japanese Olympic team at the

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the IX Olympiad (), was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from 28 July to 12 August 1928 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The city of Amsterdam had previously bid for ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, where he competed in three events. His best performance came in the triple jump, where he placed fourth, while his countryman Mikio Oda won the gold. In the long jump, he finished ninth, and his 4 × 100 m relay team was eliminated in the heats. Nambu's real breakthrough came in 1931. After improving his Japanese record a few times, he landed a long jump just two cm short of 8 m, a new

Jesse Owens James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (September 12, 1913 – March 31, 1980) was an American track and field athlete who made history at the Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics, 1936 Olympic Games by becoming the first person to win four gold meda ...

broke the world record less than four years later but it stood as an Asian record until it was beaten by

Hiroomi Yamada was a Japanese long jumper who competed in the 1964 Summer Olympics and in the 1968 Summer Olympics. Yamada was the first Asian to jump eight metres, doing so with a leap 8.01 at Odawara on June 7, 1970. Yamada twice finished second at the B ...

in 1970. The next year, at the Los Angeles Games, he was one of the favourites for the Olympic titles in both horizontal jumps. Nambu was disappointed with his third place in the long jump, but took revenge in the triple jump final, held a few days after the long jump. His winning mark of 15.72 m set a new world record. Thereby, Nambu became the first athlete to hold the world record in both horizontal jumps. He retained both records until 1935, when he lost them to

(long jump) and

Jack Metcalfe John Patrick Metcalfe (3 February 1912 – 16 January 1994) was an Australian athlete who competed in high jump, long jump and javelin events, though he is best remembered as a triple jumper.sports journalist Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in a par ...

for ''

Mainichi Shimbun The is one of the major newspapers in Japan, published by In addition to the ''Mainichi Shimbun'', which is printed twice a day in several local editions, Mainichi also operates an English-language news website called , and publishes a bilin ...

''. He also remained active in sports, being head coach for the Japanese Athletics Association, and acting as manager of the national team at the

1964 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 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 honor was subsequ ...

. In 1992, he was awarded the

Olympic Order The Olympic Order, established in 1975, is the highest award of the Olympic Movement. It is awarded for particularly distinguished contributions to the Olympic Movement, i.e. recognition of efforts worthy of merit in the cause of sport. Tradit ...

in silver by the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

(IOC). He died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

aged 93.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nambu, Chuhei 1904 births 1997 deaths Sportspeople from Sapporo Athletes from Hokkaido Japanese athletics coaches Japanese male long jumpers Japanese male triple jumpers Japanese male sprinters Olympic male long jumpers Olympic male triple jumpers Olympic male sprinters Olympic athletes for Japan Olympic gold medalists for Japan Olympic bronze medalists for Japan Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 1928 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1932 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1932 Summer Olympics Japan Championships in Athletics winners World record setters in athletics (track and field) Deaths from pneumonia in Japan 20th-century Japanese sportsmen