Measuring Success

As the Tokyo Olympic Games progress now is a good time to remember an athlete from the past. A man forgotten outside of the host nation. A man whose story should be a lesson for all.

The 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games took place far later in the year than this year’s event. The Games ran from 10-24 October. They were an Olympic Games that would change the way that the World perceived Japan. These were the first Olympics to be telecast internationally by satellite, not only that but in colour too. There were also technological advances such as the photo finish on the track and the electronic starting gun in the swimming pool.

Japan, saw the Games from a sporting perspective as one where they could learn from other countries. Watch and observe and then adapt. Yet that did not mean that they did not want to see their athletes achieve success.

By the time the last track and field event came around, the Marathon, Japan had not won a single medal in the Olympic Stadium.

There would be few who will tell you that they held out any hope of a medal in this gruelling event.

Returning to the Olympic event from the 1960 marathon was defending champion Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia and the ninth-place finisher Osvaldo Suárez of Argentina. Bikila was the clear favourite for the Gold medal. One significant challenger was Japan’s Toru Terasawa who had taken the world record from Bikila at the 1963 Beppu-Ōita Marathon and held it until the 1963 Polytechnic Marathon. Leonard Edelen of the United States had then taken the world record from the 1963 Polytechnic and held it up until the 1964 running of the Polytechnic when Basil Heatley of Great Britain had broken it. All three of these runners were also expected to challenge for the medals.

The race was held on 21 October 1964. There had been 79 athletes from 41 nations entered, but come the day of the race only 68 started. By the finish only 58 would cross the line. Abebe Bikila, who had stunned the world running barefoot through the streets of Rome became the first man to successfully defend the Olympic gold in the marathon, and also became the the first to win two medals of any colour in Olympic marathons.

The Ethiopian finished four minutes before the second placed athlete and looked as fresh as if he had just jogged one lap around the track. He waited on the infield for the other runners to enter the stadium.

Much to the joy of the Japanese crowd the next runner to enter the stadium was Kokichi Tsubaraya.

Kokichi was one of seven children in his family. His father like many, not just in Japan, believed his children needed to have discipline. All of them had daily chores to carry out. He wanted his children to learn values and be able to stand on their own two feet.

From an early age Kokichi loved to run. He would happily run everywhere with the family dog and try and beat it. Then one day aged five he felt a sharp pain in his leg and lower back. It was only then that his parents noticed that his left leg was shorter than his right. Seeking medical advise they were told that their son had tuberculosis arthritis. This would mean that whenever he ran he would be in pain. This did not stop Kokichi for running was what he loved to do, he would live with the discomfort.

He would sneak out of the house with his older brother and despite a seven year age difference kept up. HIs father did not approve, but said to his son that if he wanted to run he had to stick with it, he must not quit.

In one race during his school days the young runner kept looking over his shoulder, when he finished his father asked him why he had done this. He told him that if you believe in yourself you do not need to look back.

After leaving school Kokichi joined the Ground Self Defence Force. He became a soldier and continued to run. He even ran in a long distance relay race with a slipped disc in his back as he did not want to let the team down.

Back in the Olympic Stadium in 1964 when Kokichi entered the stadium in second place the crowd erupted. Seconds later the Englishman Basil Heatley appeared. Heatley saw his chance and sprinted after Kokichi. The Japanese runner never looked behind him. He failed to hear the cries of the crowd as Heatley gained on him. On the final bend Heatley went past Kokichi Tsubaraya and the silver medal that the Japanese were celebrating suddenly became bronze. Four seconds was the difference between the two men.

Despite winning his nation’s only medal in track and field, a nation and Kokichi Tsubaraya pondered how they had lost silver. Should he have disobeyed his father and looked behind? That would have gone against the culture of the time. It has been written that Kokichi felt that he had let the nation down and he publicly told the nation that he would work harder to make up for his ‘loss’ when he would run in Mexico City in 1968.

Prior to the Tokyo Olympic Games he had met a young lady called Eiko, and after the Games intended to marry her. Both sets of parents approved, so too did his coach.

Yet in 1966 his commanding officer felt otherwise, and called all of these people together and told them that the marriage must wait. That Kokichi must focus on the 1968 marathon. Eiko was prepared to wait, her family were not. HIs coach did not agree with the decision and spoke up. He was demoted and then sacked as his coach for speaking out. Suddenly Kokichi was left to train on his own, something he had never done. He had started running with his dog, then his brother and then his teacher. He is said to have become miserable and injuries started to occur. His achilles tendon injury required surgery in 1967.

He returned home to see in the New Year with his family in December 1967 and it was then that his father broke the news to him that Eiko had married another.

He returned to his base with the Defense Force, and on January 8th 1968 he took his own life.

The suicide note that he wrote has been hailed by many in Japan as a literary masterpiece, one that has eclipsed what he achieved with his running. It is a time capsule from another era.

While the world celebrates the successes of those who will medal in Tokyo in 2021 it is important to remember Kokichi Tsubaraya. Mental health is very much in the news these days, and it is important that the support for athletes is genuinely there. One wonders had such support been available for Kokichi would the outcome have been different?

Kokichi felt that he had let people down. He felt he had let his family down by being beaten on that run to the tape. He felt that he had let the Defence Force down but most importantly he had let his nation down. Yet in all the literature you read leading up to the 1964 Marahon his name was never mentioned as being a runner likely to medal. The two men that beat him before the start of the race were the Olympic record holder and the World record holder. Bikila would break both records in Tokyo.

He was the only Japanese athlete to see the Japanese flag raised as they stood on the medal podium inside the Olympic Stadium.

When one looks at the facts his was a performance to be celebrated. It was a remarkable achievement especially with his medical history. Yet sometimes, and we will see this at Tokyo 2020 the truth gets distorted. The media and the fans project their disappointment upon the athletes, athletes who nine times out of ten can live the rest of their lives knowing that they have given their best.

How many people at that time knew that that loss of the silver medal would have such a tragic outcome or that the loss would pale into insignificance when as a consequence he lost the love of his life?

If ever there was a time to place less emphasis on winning and more on the individual success stories of each athlete Tokyo 2020 has to be the time. The 1964 Olympic Games have been labelled “The Last Innocent Games” for politics, doping, bribery and winning at all costs became an accepted part of the four year cycle. If the Olympics wants to stand alone as a unique event where winning is secondary to attending and taking part there has to be a shift in the focus. Maybe that can be the legacy of Kokichi Tsubaraya as the Games return to Tokyo. The lives of so many have been disrupted in the past 18 months and for some dreams have been destroyed. Surely if ever there was ever a time where the focus should shift to being a celebration of the Athlete’s journey to the Olympics rather than the accumulation of medals, that time is now?