28 May 2001
Since my last mail, one of my advisers, Kazuhiro Mizoguchi, an athlete whom I admire greatly, came to my hometown of Toyota from his home in Kyoto*. Mr Mizoguchi was one of the top Javelin throwers in the world at his peak. In 1989, he recorded a throw of 87.60m, which was the second longest throw at the time and is still an Asian record. Among his great accomplishments, he was second in the Javelin throw at the 1989 IAAF Grand Prix as well as at the 1989 IAAF World Cup in Athletics.
My father has been coaching me since the beginning. But since 1994, I have also been learning a lot from Mr. Mizoguchi. I have learned training methods, including special weight training, based on his own experiences. I have also learned other things from him, especially how athletes ought to think and act.
The reason why I took up the hammer throw was influence of my father, Shigenobu Murofushi, who was one of Japan's leading hammer throwers. Shigenobu Murofushi was a top Hammer thrower in Japan in the seventies to early eighties. He set eleven national records in the Hammer throw and was a three time Olympian, (1972, 1976 and 1984). In Munich, he was eighth with 70.88m, while in Montreal he was 11th with 68.88m. He won the Asian Games five times between 1970 and 1986. He is currently a professor at Chukyo University in Toyota, Aichi prefecture, and also coaches throwers at the University. One of his pupils - Takako Miyake -recently set a national record (61.15m) in the women's Javelin throw.
The East Asian Games will be held in Osaka this week, and the Hammer throw will be contested on Friday May 25. Although I have yet to recover fully from the fall I suffered during my first attempt at the Osaka GP, I will do my best. [Murofushi won the East Asian Games in Osaka on Friday May 25 with 79.68m].
*Note: Toyota
- now world famous because of the automobile manufacturer that is based there - is an
eastern suburb of Nagoya, a city of two million inhabitants. Kyoto, a former capital of Japan is approximately
150Km west of Nagoya.
Photograph by Koji Murofushi
22 May 2001
"I competed in the Osaka GP meet on May 12. Unfortunately I slipped during the rotation phase of my first throw, which caused me to foul as well as fall. Because I hit the ground quite hard, I was confused at first. Later, I learned that the dull thud of my body hitting the ground was heard by spectators in the home straight, and in the back straight.
The other hammer throwers were concerned and asked me, 'Koji, are you OK?' I was determined to do something about it and managed to recover by my second throw. As a result, I was able to win the competition with 82.59m, my second best performance of the season.
On the night after that competition, I went out to downtown Osaka with Balázs Kiss of Hungary, the 1996 Olympic champion and Andrey Skvaruk of Ukraine, who won last year's IAAF Grand Prix Final.
Osaka, which has a reputation as a city for lovers of food and drink, is famous for gourmet restaurants. We went to a restaurant which specializes in Crab dishes. Both Balázs and Andrey seemed quite happy with the variety of Crab dishes at the restaurant. For Andrey, perhaps because it was his first visit to Japan, he was taking lot of photographs of Osaka after the dinner."
On May 14, the Japan AAF unveiled the new national team uniform and I was asked to be a model at the presentation ceremony. The Japanese team will start competing in the new uniform at the East Asian Games in Osaka, my next competition."
Photograph by Rikujyo Kyogi Magazine
