Koji Murofushi, a hammer thrower on a roll
K. Ken Nakamura

Koji Murofushi is on a roll this season, having set three national records, most recently at the super meet in Yokohama on 9 September.

In the meeting, not only did he throw 81.08m to improve his own national record, but sent the hammer flying over the 80 metre barrier on four occasions.

You could say that Koji has hammer throwing in his blood. His father is Shigenobu Murofushi, a hammer thrower at three Olympic Games (1972, 1976 and 1984). His best finish came in Munich in 1972 where he finished eighth. Murofushi junior, who will be making his Olympic debut in Sydney, may just improve his family record and has the realistic target of a place on the podium.

Koji was born in Numazu in Shizuoka prefecture on 8 October 1974. As the son of a national hammer throw record holder, there may have been some pressure to succeed. But his father did not force Koji to take up his favoured discipline. In fact, it was Koji who took the initiative, despite being slightly built in his youth. Now, the hammer throw is a popular pastime in the Murofushi household; his younger sister Yuka is also a part time hammer thrower, although her main discipline is discus, for which she holds the national record.

Koji’s international debut took place at the 1992 World Junior Championships where he finished 8th with 65.78m. In 1994, he was second in the Asian Games with 67.48m, and competed in the Göteborg World Championships. Although he was not able to achieve the Olympic "A" standard in 1996, his 1997 season started well with successive personal records: 74.74m, 74.98m and 75.30m. Then, in May, he won the gold medal at the East Asian Games in Pusan. Unlike 1995 at Göteborg when he could only manage to throw 67.06m - nearly 4 metres less than his personal best at the time, in Athens his best throw in the qualifying round was 75.28m - a mere 2cm below his best. Then in the final, he placed 10th with 74.82m. After Athens, he improved his personal best twice more to end the season with a 75.72m.

On 26 April 1998, at the Gunma Relays, Koji Murofushi finally set a long-awaited national record. He threw the hammer 76.65m to surpass his father's record (75.96m), which had stood for almost 14 years. However, he still has a long way to go before matching his father's accomplishments, which include five consecutive Asian Games' titles from 1970 to 1986. But winning Asian titles is a much harder task today, for throwers from the former Soviet Union like Andrey Abduvaliyev now compete in both the Asian Games and Asian Championships.

Murofushi's first confrontation with Abduvaliyev took place at the Asian Championships in July. In Fukuoka, he could only manage 74.17m for second place to Abduvaliyev, the 1992 Olympic Champion. But during the fall track season, Murofushi was on a roll, setting four national records (76.67m, 76.72m, 77.35m, and 78.41m) in succession. His final NR of the year came, appropriately, at the Asian Games in December in Bangkok, where he won the gold medal with 78.57m, his first Asian Games title. In the process he relegated the 1992 Olympic Champion to the silver medal position.

He improved the national record six times in 1998, but only once in 1999. On 24 October in Kumamoto at the 1999 National Games (Kokutai), Koji set his seventh national hammer throw record with a 79.17m performance. The media started to talk about the 80m barrier. As for his championship appearances in 1999, Murofushi finished sixth at the World University Games, improving his eighth place finish back in 1997. However, unlike in 1997 when he was tenth at the World Championships in Athens, he failed to qualify for the final in Seville.

As the dominant Japanese hammer thrower, in November of 1999 he was pre-selected for the Olympic team, his first. As in previous years, Murofushi trained with Abduvaliyev in the fall, learning a lot from him.

This Olympic year has been the best year so far for Murofushi. First at the Osaka GP in May, after improving his national record to 79.20m on his second throw, he finally surpassed the magical 80m barrier with 80.23m, quite amazing considering the fact that Murofushi only weighs 90Kg.

During the press conference after the competition he jokingly said: "Now I don't have to face the question 'When are you going to throw 80m?'"

After competing four times in Europe in June and July, he further improved the national record at the Nambu meet in July with 80.47m and 80.56m. Six days later in Budapest, he won against a world class field that included Nemeth, Kiss, Annus and Gecsek with 80.38m. It was also his first 80m throw abroad. Finally in Yokohama on September 9, in addition to the national record of 81.08m with his second throw, he recorded three other 80m throws (80.26m, 80.72m and 80.29m) during the competition.

The Japanese news media have been making a lot of noise like: " Murofushi's national record would have been worth a medal at the1996 Olympic Games. It is better than the gold medal winning throw at the 1999 World Championships…"

Currently, in the hammer throw event, nobody really stands out. The Olympic medal may be won by any of the top dozen throwers. Koji, who is in peak form and very consistent at the moment, has as good a chance as any athlete of winning the Olympic medal.