It was the Tanzanian marathon runner John Akwhari who famously said after finishing the 1968 Olympic Marathon long after his fellow competitors had finished, and as they were packing up the stadium, “My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start the race; they sent me 5,000 miles to finish the race.”
His comment says a great deal. Many athletes feel a huge responsibility when they represent their country at an event such as the Olympic games. It is no longer just about them, but about representing their nation in a way that will reflect well, and will make the people proud. Sadly some of the Western cultures have lost this sense of responsibility and the focus has become more selfish..
One such man who clearly felt the same way as Akwhari was Japanese Marathon runner Shizo Kanakuri; who came 46 years before the Tanzanian.
Kanakuri was born in Nagomi, Kumamoto in August 1891. He attended the Tokyo Higher Normal School, where his prowess for long distance running started to become apparent.
In 1911 it was reported that the 20 year old had set a new world record for the Marathon of 2 hours, 32 minutes and 45 seconds. Some have said that he achieved this time due to the course not being the required distance, and finishing at 25 miles.
The performance did however highlight him as a genuine contender for an Olympic medal. So in 1912 he was selected as one of two Japanese athletes to attend the Stockholm Olympics. This would be the first time Japan competed at an Olympic Games, and the country could not afford to send any other athletes to Sweden. So this was a huge honour, and with it came a great deal of expectation. Incidentally the only other delegate fielded by Japan in 1912 was sprinter Mishima Yahiko.
The journey from Japan to Stockhom would be a gruelling one. The train journey would take ten days, but first the two athletes had to travel by ship to meet the train. The journey is said to have taken 18 days in total. When the two athletes arrived at the Host city they were exhausted, and it took them five days to get over the journey. That was not the only problem. Unlike the Olympic villages of modern times where almost every imaginable national food dish is covered, this was not the case in 1912. The local food was alien to the two Japanese runners and their bodies struggled to adjust to the change in diet. Yahiko was apparently the more sick of the two and so Kanakuri, feeling under the weather himself, was also nursing his team mate back to health.
The record books claim that on the day of the race was an unseasonably warm day, 25 degrees Celsius. Kanakuri was determined to make Japan proud.
Midway through the race the effects of the previous three weeks began to take its toll on Kanakuri. Eventually he lost consciousness.
There were no television cameras along the Marathon route in 1912, nor were there first aid tents. Kanakuri was helped up and taken home by a local farming family. He never finished the race.
When he had recovered he felt embarrassed by what had happened. He did not know whether to tell the officials or to quietly head home. He opted for the second option. Little did he know that due to the extreme heat almost half of the entrants in the Marathon had been forced to retire before reaching the finish line. So in truth he had little be ashamed of.
The result of his decision to leave quietly was that Swedish authorities listed him as “missing.” He would remain missing for the next 50 years!
Back in Japan he realised that Japan needed to improve their athlete preparation if they were to compete on the World stage. Kanakuri was selected to represent Japan at the 1916 Olympic Games and that may well have alerted Swedish authorities that he was in fact alive and well, but these games were cancelled due to World War 1.
In 1920 he established the Hakone Eikden marathon relay. There are now many Eikden Marathon relay events in Japan and they are a huge drawcard for television viewers.
After the end of the War Kanakuri did eventually compete in another Olympic Games in 1920, the Games held in Antwerp, Belgium. Here he finished 16th in 2 hours, 48 minutes and 45.4 seconds. He would run again in the 1924 Summer Olympics, where unfortunately he once again failed to finish the race. Despite these two appearances Swedish authorities still failed to link him to their ‘missing runner.’
In 1967 TV channel Sveriges Television (Swedish Television) decided to try and follow up on the story that had become part of the legend of the 1912 Olympic Games. They tracked Kanakuri down in Tamana, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, where the now 75 year old was enjoying his retirement. They came up with an interesting proposition, did he want to return to Sweden and finish what he started? He said he would love to.
So in March 1967, Kanakuri finally crossed the finish line, albeit 54 years after he had set off from the start line. His official finish time of 54 years 246 days 5 hours 32 minutes 20.3 seconds represents the longest time to complete a marathon, and makes it officially the slowest marathon in history.
On completion Kanakuri told the awaiting press “It was a long trip. Along the way I got married, had six children and 10 grandchildren.”
Shizo Kanakuri passed away at the impressive age of 92 on the 13th of November 1983.
Despite the unusual end to his Olympic debut he will always be best remembered in Japan for his huge contribution to developing athletics. The first prize in the Hakone Eikden is now named in his honour. Japan has now won 439 Summer Olympic medals and sit 11th on the list of all the medal winning countries. Japan has won two Olympic silver medals and two Olympic Bronze medals in the Marathon. The record books show that they have won one Gold, but as covered in Inspirational Athletes – 8 This was not really a Japanese victory, and one feels that Kanakuri would not see it as one. When that day does come maybe the story of Shizo Kanakuri will fade into the background, but then again maybe it won’t. As here was a man who put the reputation of his country and the honour of being its representative, first, and that is a truly honourable ideal.
