Kōkichi Tsuburaya
Kōkichi Tsuburaya ( Japanese 円 谷 幸 吉 , Tsuburaya Kōkichi ; born May 13, 1940 in Sukagawa ; † January 9, 1968 in Asaka ) was a Japanese long-distance runner.
In 1962 he was the Japanese champion in the 5000-meter run and the 10,000-meter run . At these distances he set several national records.
He achieved the greatest success of his career in the marathon of the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. He reached the Olympic Stadium about four minutes after defending champion Abebe Bikila in second. In the last few meters, however, he was overtaken by the British Basil Heatley . Tsuburaya finally took third place in 2: 16: 22.8 h and took the bronze medal. He also competed in the 10,000 meter run in Tokyo and was sixth in 28: 59.4 minutes.
In the years that followed, Tsuburaya struggled with persistent injuries and was unable to regain his old form. He suffered from the immense pressure of his compatriots to expect at least to repeat his success in Tokyo at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. Around nine months before the Games began, he committed suicide by cutting open his wrist.
Kōkichi Tsuburaya was 1.63 m tall and had a competition weight of 54 kg.
Web links
- Kōkichi Tsuburaya in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
- Farewell letter from Kōkichi Tsuburaya (Japanese)
Individual evidence
- ↑ gbrathletics.com: Japanese Championships
- ↑ arrs.run: JPN Record Progression Track
- ↑ Michael Sandrock: Running with the Legends. Human Kinetics, 1996. ISBN 0-8732-2493-0
- ↑ TIMEasia: The Agony of Defeat , October 2, 2000
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Tsuburaya, Kōkichi |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | 円 谷 幸 吉 (Japanese) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Japanese long distance runner |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 13, 1940 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Sukagawa |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 9, 1968 |
| Place of death | Asaka |