Keiichi Suzuki (speed skater)

Keiichi Suzuki
nation	Japan
birthday	November 10, 1942
size	171 cm
Weight	72 kg
Career
Pers. Best times	500 m - 38.5 sec. 1000 m - 1: 21.3 min. 1500 m - 2: 11.9 min.
status	resigned
Medal table
S-WM medals 0 × 1 × 0 ×
Sprint World Championships silver West Allis 1970 sprint

Keiichi Suzuki ( Japanese 鈴木 惠 一 , Suzuki Keiichi ; born November 10, 1942 in Sakhalin ) is a former Japanese speed skater . Suzuki took part in the Winter Olympics three times - in 1964, 1968 and 1972 - and took the Olympic oath of athletes at the 1972 home games in Sapporo . He also ran two world record times on the 500-meter course and became the first runner-up in the sprint all-around championship in 1970.

career

From the early 1960s, Suzuki took part in speed skating competitions and was a member of the 47-strong Japanese Olympic team for the first time in 1964 . At the Olympic competitions in Innsbruck, with a fifth place on the sprint distance of 500 meters, he achieved the best result ever for a Japanese athlete at these winter games and only missed the medal ranks by a tenth of a second. Suzuki confirmed his time of 40.7 seconds in Innsbruck the following year at the all- around world championship , with which he even achieved the fastest part-time on the ice on the 500-meter course. The Japanese defended his position as one of the world's best ice sprinters in the following years: Among other things, he ran in a direct duel in Inzell in January 1968 only a tenth of a second slower than the local winner Erhard Keller , who set a new world record with his time of 39.2 seconds . Also at the 1968 Winter Universiade - the student world sports games - Suzuki won the silver medal and only had to admit defeat to Keller. In the run-up to the 1968 Winter Olympics , Suzuki was one of the favorites due to his preliminary performances, but did not have an optimal run and with a time of 40.8 seconds in Grenoble finally missed the medal ranks in eighth place.

After two more victories on the 500-meter section at the all-around world championships in 1968 and 1969 - which were, however, left out by some of the world's best sprint specialists - Suzuki ran 39.2 seconds on the track in Inzell in March 1969, setting Kellers a year earlier World record time. At the Sprint World Championship, which was held for the first time in 1970 in West Allis , America , the athletes ran two 500-meter and two 1000-meter races, unlike the all-around World Cup, where the long distances (5000 and 10,000 meters) were also on the program stood. This innovation suited the Sprinter Suzuki, behind the Russian Valeri Muratow he secured the title of Vice World Champion. He also set the world record for a second time in March 1970 when he ran the 500 meters in Inzell in 38.71 seconds. Only one day later, the Swede Hasse Börjes surpassed Suzuki's mark again.

Suzuki could not repeat his success from the Sprint World Championship in 1970 a year later in Inzell and placed eighth. He missed his personal best by almost a second. The following winter, 1971/72, was dominated by the Olympic Winter Games in Sapporo, for which Suzuki, like the entire Japanese team, prepared exclusively in their homeland and skipped all competitions in Europe. Suzuki was allowed to take the Olympic oath at the opening of the Games and was also the team captain of his team. Like the other previously highly esteemed Japanese, he played no role over 500 meters and - in front of the emperor Hirohito - only took 19th place, almost two seconds behind winner Erhard Keller. After his third Olympic participation, Suzuki ended his active career.

Suzuki studied political science at Meiji University and graduated there in 1966. After his active career he worked as a PR manager for the Saitama Seibu Lions baseball team , later he coached the Japanese national speed skating team and became director of the Japan Skating Federation .

Web links

Commons : Keiichi Suzuki  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Keiichi Suzuki in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Statistics at speed skating news

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} 校友 ・ 鈴木 惠 一 氏 に 「明治 大学 特別 功 労 賞」 を 贈 呈 - 日本 ス ケ ー ト 界 に 尽力 on meiji.ac.jp (June 22, 2017).
2. ↑ 「世界 の 鈴木」 ス ケ ー ト 連 副 会長 は 伝 説 の 西武 ラ イ オ ン ズ 広 報 on news.mynavi.jp (February 15, 2014).