Yasuji Miyazaki

Yasuji Miyazaki was a Japanese freestyle swimmer, born in Kosai in Shizuoka Prefecture in 1916 and died in 1989, who became an Olympic champion while still a schoolboy. He was chosen for the Japanese team for the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles at the age of fifteen, one of the youngest members of the squad. In the semi-finals of the 100 metres freestyle he bettered the Olympic record that the American Johnny Weissmuller had set, and he went on to win the final. The next day he swam in the 4 x 200 metres freestyle relay, where the Japanese team took a second gold for him and set a new world record of 8 minutes 58.4 seconds. After returning to Japan he entered Keio University and retired from competition, and he is remembered in the International Swimming Hall of Fame.