Koji Ito

Koji Ito (伊東 浩司, Itō Kōji, born 29 January 1970 in Kobe) is a retired Japanese track and field sprinter and Japan's fourth-fastest record holder of 100m sprint with a time of 10.00 seconds. He held the 100 metres Japanese national record between December 1998 and September 2017. He is a former Asian record holder in the 100 metres and 200 metres, and still holds the indoor record as well as the 4×400 metres relay record.

Koji Ito
Personal information
NationalityJapanese
Born (1970-01-29) 29 January 1970
Kobe city, Hyogo prefecture, Japan
Height180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Sport
SportTrack and field
Event(s)Sprints
ClubTokai University, Fujitsu
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)100 m: 10.00

200 m: 20.16

400 m: 46.11
Koji Ito
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing  Japan
Asian Games
1998 Bangkok100 m
1998 Bangkok200 m
1994 Hiroshima200 m
Asian Athletics Championships
1998 Fukuoka200 m
East Asian Games
1997 Busan200 m
1993 Shanghai200 m

He is married to former long-distance runner Hiromi Suzuki.[1]

Career

He started out as a 400 metres runner and after winning a bronze at the 1991 Asian Athletics Championships, he was selected for the relay at the 1991 World Championships in Athletics and represented his country on home turf. In 1993 he won a bronze medal at the 1993 East Asian Games and the 1993 Asian Athletics Championships. He managed to reach the quarter-finals of the 200 m of the World Championships that year. His 1994 was highlighted by a silver medal at his first Asian Games in Hiroshima.

He represented Japan at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and managed to reach the semifinals of the 200 m and helped the 4×400 m relay to secure fifth place in the final in an Asian record time. He won his first major championship title in 1997, winning the 200 m gold at the East Asian Games, but he did not get past the heat stages at either the IAAF World Indoor Championships or the World Championships in Athletics.

The following year marked his career peak: he started with a win in the 200 m at the 1998 Asian Athletics Championships and went on to win a sprint double at the 1998 Asian Games in Games record times. In winning the Asian Games 100 m crown on 13 December 1998 (Bangkok) he ran a time of 10.00 seconds, during a semi-final heat.[2] This time had been Japanese national record for 19 years until Yoshihide Kiryū shaving 0.02 off in 2017. He was the Most Valuable Player of the 13th Asian Games.[3]

Ito also clocked a personal best of 20.16 s in the 200 m on 2 October 1998 at Kumamoto, Japan. He put in a strong performance at the 1999 World Indoor Championships, just missing out on the 60 metres final and running an Asian indoor record time for fifth place in the 200 m competition. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Ito finished seventh in the semi-finals in both the 100 m and 200 m events (10.39 s and 20.67 s respectively) ; the Japanese men's 4x100 m team (Nobuharu Asahara, Koji Ito, Shigeyuki Kojima, Shingo Suetsugu) finished sixth in 38.66 s. Suetsugu later went on to follow in Ito's footsteps as Japan's top male sprinter. Ito never again matched the form of his high-water-mark 1998 season and retired in 2002.

Achievements

YearCompetitionVenuePositionNotes
Representing  Japan
1991 Asian Athletics Championships Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 3rd 400 m
World Championships Tokyo, Japan 4th (heats) 4×400 m relay
1993 East Asian Games Shanghai, China 3rd 200 m
World Championships Stuttgart, Germany 6th (quarter-finals) 200 m
7th (heats) 4×100 m relay
Asian Athletics Championships Manila, Philippines 3rd 400 m
1994 Asian Games Hiroshima, Japan 2nd 200 m
1995 World Indoor Championships Barcelona, Spain 5th (semis) 200 m
World Championships Gothenburg, Sweden 6th (quarter-finals) 200 m
1996 Summer Olympics Atlanta, United States 6th (semis) 200 m
DNF 4×100 m relay
5th (AR) 4×400 m relay
1997 World Indoor Championships Paris, France 3rd (heats) 60 m
4th (heats) 200 m
East Asian Games Busan, South Korea 1st 200 m
World Championships Athens, Greece 4th (heats) 100 m
4th (heats) 200 m
1998 Asian Athletics Championships Fukuoka, Japan 1st 200 m
Asian Games Bangkok, Thailand 1st 100 m
1st 200 m
IAAF World Cup Johannesburg, South Africa 4th 200 m
1999 World Indoor Championships Maebashi, Japan 4th (semis) 60 m
5th (AR) 200 m
World Championships Seville, Spain 7th (quarter-finals) 100 m
6th (semis) 200 m
4th (heats) 4×400 m relay
2000 Summer Olympics Sydney, Australia 7th (semis) 100 m
7th (semis) 200 m
6th 4×100 m relay

References

  1. "鈴木博美、伊東浩司夫妻「心の中に小出監督はいる」". Nikkan Sports (in Japanese). 2019-04-26. Retrieved 2019-11-25.
  2. sports.sohu.com / chinaedunet.com (2010-01-21). Outstanding Japanese athletes in Asian Games The Official Website of the 16th Asian Games. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
  3. Outstanding Japanese athletes in Asian Games
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