Nambu Chuhei

Nambu Chuhei

Nambu Chūhei ( Japanese 南部 忠 平 ; born May 27, 1904 in Sapporo , † July 23, 1997 in Osaka ) was a Japanese athlete and Olympic champion . To this day he is the only athlete who held the world record in long jump and triple jump at the same time .

Nothing is known about the youth of Nambu. He had his first sporting successes in the mid-1920s. At the Olympic Games in Amsterdam in 1928 , he took part in three disciplines. In the triple jump he was fourth, in the long jump ninth, and in the 4 x 100 meter relay he was eliminated with the Japanese team in the preliminary run.

He had his breakthrough as a world record holder in 1931. After surpassing the Japanese record in the long jump several times, he set a world record that year with 7.98 m. At the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, he was one of the favorites in the two jumping disciplines. In the long jump he won the bronze medal behind the two Americans Ed Gordon (gold) and Lambert Redd (silver). A few days later he won the gold medal in the triple jump, ahead of the Swede Erik Svensson (silver) and his compatriot Ōshima Kenkichi (bronze), with a width of 15.72 m, which was also a world record. He held both world records until 1935, when Jesse Owens improved his marks in the long jump and Jack Metcalfe in the triple jump. In the 4 x 100 meter relay, he came in fifth with the Japanese quartet.

After his active career, Nambu worked as a sports journalist for the Mainichi Shimbun , but continued to work in the sports sector. He became the coach of the Japanese Athletics Association and was the manager of the Japanese Olympic team for the 1964 Tokyo Games . In 1992 he was recognized by the International Olympic Committee for his services in sport.

Web links

• Nambu Chūhei in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Nambu is the family name, Chūhei the first name.