Text by Yavuz YAVUZ
During a twenty-year period spanning three decades, one athlete reigned in the men’s hammer throw event at the Asian Games. Japan’s Shigenobu Murofushi competed in six consecutive Asian Games and won a medal in each of them, which remains one of the most impressive streaks in athletics history.
Murofushi was born in China’s Hebei province in October 1945, a month after the end of the Pacific War. He took up sumo wrestling and shot put before finally landing in hammer throw. At the age of 21, the Japanese hammer thrower took part in the first Asian Games of his career and stood on the second step of the podium with a 60.02-meter throw. This was the first of six consecutive Asian Games medals in a row. While fellow Japanese hammer thrower Takeo Sugawara took the gold in his inaugural Asian Games, during the remaining five, Murofushi did not yield the first place of the podium.
The Japanese athlete’s first gold medal at the Asian Games came with a 67.08 throw in 1970, marking a championship record. At the 1974 Games held in Tehran, Murofushi defended his title. In 1978, Murofushi renewed the championship record he set eight years ago with 68.26 meters, once again in Bangkok. During the period until the next Asian Games, Murofushi was crowned as the Asian Athletics champion twice, setting two consecutive championship records. This made him the biggest favorite of the gold medal in 1982, when he renewed the Games record once again, with a 71.14 throw and won the gold.
His fame had already begun to cross-disciplinary lines of sports in Japan and at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, Murofushi became the flag-bearer of his country. In 1986, at the age of 41, Shigenobu Murofushi won his fifth consecutive gold medal at the Asian Games, capping off an unmatched feat. During this streak of five gold medals, Murofushi put on a dominant display by winning with substantial margins. In the three events at the middle of this streak, the distance between the throws of Murofushi and those of his closest rivals did not come closer than four meters.
FAMILY BUSINESS
The Murofushi story did not end with Shigenobu’s retirement and the family engraved their name to the athletics history. Shigenobu Murofushi used to be married to Serafina Moritz, a Romanian javelin thrower who was crowned as the European U20 champion in 1968. Their children, Koji and Yuka became internationally renowned hammer throwers. After retirement, Shigenobu pursued an academic career and went on to become an emeritus professor at Chukyo University’s Physical Education Faculty. He maintained his presence in the track and field by coaching his children.
Yuka Murofushi took up both discus and hammer throwing. In hammer throwing, she won a silver medal and three bronze medals at the Asian Athletic Championships and another bronze at the 2010 Asian Games. She also obtained three bronze medals in discus throwing at East Asian Games. She completed a double in both discus and hammer throwing at the 2005 East Asian games and at the 2010 Japanese nationals with two bronzes at the former and two championship titles at the latter.
Koji, on the other hand, became the most decorated athlete of the Murofushi family. He won the Olympic gold in Athens 2004 as well as a bronze in London 2012, and the World Championship title in Daegu 2011. Moreover, Koji extended the family legacy when he broke the Japanese national record in 1998, set by his father Shigenobu at 75.96 in 1984 and stood for twenty-three years. In this sense, while Japan has always been a crucial power hub in Asia’s hammer throwing history, the Murofushis carved a substantial portion of the continent’s athletics history in throwing events and left a significant legacy behind.
