Kinue Hitomi

Japanese athlete (1907–1931)

Kinue Hitomi

Kinue Hitomi at the 1928 Olympics

Personal information
Native name| 人見 絹枝
Nationality| Japanese
Born| (1907-01-01)January 1, 1907
Okayama, Japan
Died| August 2, 1931(1931-08-02) (aged 24)
Osaka, Japan
Sport
Sport| Women's athletics
Event| All

Medal record

Women's athletics
Representing  Japan
Olympic Games
|  1928 Amsterdam | 800 metres
Women's World Games
| 1926 Gothenburg | Long jump
| 1926 Gothenburg | Standing long jump
| 1930 Prague | Long Jump
| 1926 Gothenburg | Discus
| 1930 Prague | Triathlon
| 1926 Gothenburg | 100 yards
| 1930 Prague | 60 metres
| 1930 Prague | Javelin

Kinue Hitomi (人見 絹枝, Hitomi Kinue, January 1, 1907 - August 2, 1931) was a Japanese track and field athlete. She was the world record holder in several events in the 1920s – 1930s and was the first Japanese woman to win an Olympic medal. She was also the first woman to represent Japan at the Olympics.[1]

## Biography

[edit]

Hitomi was born in what is now part of Okayama City. In November 1923 during the 2nd Okayama Prefectural Women's Games, she set an unofficial national record of 4m67 in the long jump event. In April 1924, Hitomi entered what is now the Japan Women's College of Physical Education. She returned to Okayama in October 1924 to participate in the 3rd Okayama Prefectural Women's Games, where she set an unofficial world record of 10m33 in the triple jump event. She bested this record the following month at the 1924 Meiji Shrine Games in Tokyo, with a distance of 11m35 and also set an unofficial world record for the Javelin throw of 26m37.

In October 1925, Hitomi participated in the 4th Osaka Games, winning first place in the 50 metres event, and again besting her unofficial world record for the triple jump with a distance of 11m62. In the 1925 Meiji Shrine Games in Tokyo, she won both the 50 metres event and the triple jump.

In April 1926, Hitomi went to work for the Osaka Mainichi Shimbun newspaper. In May, she set new unofficial national records for the long jump (5m06), shot put (10m39), 100m hurdles (15m4) at the 3rd Women's Olympics held by the newspaper at Miyoshino. In June, in a completion sponsored by the Tokyo Mainichi Shimbun newspaper, she set new unofficial national records for the long jump (5m75) and the 4 × 100 metres relay (52s2).

In August 1926, Hitomi was selected to attend the "2èmes Jeux mondiaux féminins FSFI" games at Gothenburg, Sweden as the only Japanese woman athlete. She travelled by the Trans-Siberian Railway alone to Moscow, where a reporter from the Mainichi Shimbun met her and escorted her to Sweden. Competing in a total of six events, she received a gold medal for the long jump, with a distance of 5m50, setting a new official world record, as well as a gold medal for the standing long jump (2m49), silver medal for the discus throw (32m61) and bronze medal for the 100-yard dash (12.0 seconds). She also received an honorary prize from Alice Milliat, president of Fédération Sportive Féminine Internationale (FSFI) for the most individual points at 15.[2]

In May 1927, at the 3rd Women's Athletic Meet at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo, Hitomi set two new unofficial world records for the 200-meter run (26.1 seconds) and the standing jump (2m61). She also tied the world record for the 100-meter run at a meet in Osaka in June. At a meet in Tokyo in October of the same year, she unofficially tied the world record for the 50-meter sprint (6.4 seconds) as well as the 100-meter sprint (12.4 seconds). Hitomi continued to set unofficial new world records in early 1928, with the 400-meter run (59.0 seconds) and 100-meter sprint (12.4 seconds) in Tokyo. At the Olympic qualifying event in Osaka, she set new official world records for the long jump (5m98) and the 100-meter spring (12.0 seconds), and was one of the first women to be included into a Japanese Olympic Team.

During the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, Hitomi was the only Japanese woman athlete to compete. She entered the 100m, discus, and high jump individual events but had been concentrating most on the 100m. However, she lost this event in semifinals. She then decided to join 800m in haste (she hadn't run an 800m race at any official competition until that time), and as last-minute entries were still permitted, she was allowed to compete. Hitomi ran 2:26.2 in the preliminary and received a silver medal in the final with a time of 2:17.6, in a race won by Lina Radke in 2:16.8. She became the first Japanese woman to win an Olympic medal.[2]

Hitomi (left) racing Lina Radke in the 800 metres at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics

In April 1929 Hitomi achieved 217 points in the triathlon (100m, high jump, javelin) setting an unofficial world record at the 6th Japan Women's Olympics at Miyoshino. In May, she set an official world record for the 200-meter run with a time 24.7 seconds in Tokyo. This was followed in October by new unofficial world records of 12.0 seconds for the 100m and 7.5 for the 60m sprint in Shenyang.

In early 1930, Hitomi was asked to lecture to women's schools around the country. In July, she set new official national records for the long jump and javelin throw. In September, she participated in the "3èmes Jeux mondiaux féminins FSFI" games at Prague with five younger Japanese athletes. During this event, she won the gold medal for the long jump, silver medal for the triathlon and bronze medal for the javelin throw, despite suffering from a fever.[2] She was also awarded a silver medal for her 12 individual points.

After the event, the Japanese team went on tour to Warsaw, Berlin, Brussels, Paris and London for competitions within the next half-month. This extremely tough schedule took a toll on her health. Even after her return to Japan, she was asked to lecture, and visited sponsors and contributors in many Japanese cities without much rest. She was also surprised by the unexpected hostile reception to her athletic successes by the Japanese public. On March 25, 1931, she entered a hospital in Osaka under a false name to avoid publicity. Hitomi died from pneumonia on August 2, just three years after her Amsterdam Olympic 800m final.[3]

## Gallery

[edit]

* Kinue Hitomi:Silver medalist of Woman's 800m Athletics at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympic Games

## See also

[edit]

* Idaten (TV series)
* Japan at the 1928 Summer Olympics

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "First female competitors at the Olympics by country". Olympedia. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
2. ^ a b c Guttmann, Allen (2001). Japanese Sports: A History. University of Hawaii Press, ISBN 0824824644. p. 75
3. ^ Kinue Hitomi. sports-reference.com

## Further reading

[edit]

* Schiot, Molly (October 2016). Game changers: the unsung heroines of sports history (1st ed.). New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781501137099. OCLC 944380525.
* Christensen, Karen. International Encyclopedia of Women and Sports. Macmillan Reference USA, 2001. ISBN 0028649524

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kinue Hitomi.

* International Association of Athletics Federations
* Official Website of the Olympic Movement
* sporting-heroes.net
* Mainichi Shimbun

Records

Preceded by

Gertrud Gladitsch

|  Women's 100 metres
20 May 1928–2 June 1928  | Succeeded by

Betty Robinson

Preceded by

Eileen Edwards

|  Women's 200 metres
19 May 1929–13 Aug 1933  | Succeeded by

Tollien Schuurman

Preceded by

Muriel Gunn

|  Women's Long Jump
28 Aug 1926–01 Aug 1927  | Succeeded by

Muriel Gunn

Preceded by

Muriel Gunn

|  Women's Long Jump
20 May 1928–30 Jul 1939  | Succeeded by

Christel Schultz

Preceded by

Adrienne Kaenel

|  Women's Triple Jump
Not officially ratified by the IAAF
17 October 1926–21 October 1939  | Succeeded by

Rie Yamaguchi

* v
* t
* e

Japan Championships in Athletics women's 100 metres champions

* 1925: Satoshi Terao
* 1926: Sadako Ishiwata
* 1927–28: Kinue Hitomi
* 1929: Honjo Hatsu
* 1930: Chiyo Yuasa
* 1931–33: Sumiko Watanabe
* 1934: Tsuruko Hattori
* 1935: Sumiko Usui
* 1936: Kikumi Morita
* 1937: Etsuko Komiya
* 1938: Kiyoko Wellta
* 1939–40: Toyoko Yoshino
* 1941: Cancelled
* 1942: Kinuko Hayashi
* 1946–49: Shizuko Inaba
* 1950–51: Ayako Yoshikawa
* 1952: Marjorie Jackson-Nelson
* 1953: Kimiko Okamoto
* 1954–56: Midori Tanaka
* 1957: Kazue Otsuki
* 1958: Yuko Shiojiri
* 1959: Ikuko Yoda
* 1960: Yuko Kobayashi
* 1961: Ikuko Yoda
* 1962: Erika Fisch (FRG)
* 1963: Dorothy Hyman (GBR)
* 1964: Etsuko Miyamoto
* 1965: Masako Nakano
* 1966: Ritsuko Sukegawa
* 1967: Miyoko Tsujishita
* 1968: Miho Sato
* 1969: Ritsuko Sukegawa
* 1970–73: Keiko Yamada
* 1974: Emiko Konishi
* 1975–76: Yukiko Osako
* 1977: Emiko Konishi
* 1978: Keiko Yamada
* 1979: Sumiko Kaibara
* 1980: Yukiko Osako
* 1981: Komimi Isozaki
* 1982–86: Emiko Konishi
* 1987: Mikako Eguchi
* 1988: Etsuko Hara
* 1989: Toshie Iwamoto
* 1990: Miki Madoka
* 1991: Pauline Davis-Thompson (BAH)
* 1992: Ayako Nomura
* 1993: Ayako Nomura
* 1994–96: Toshie Iwamoto
* 1997: Kaori Sakagami
* 1998–2003: Motoko Arai
* 2004: Motoko Arai & Kaori Sakagami
* 2005: Tomoko Ishida
* 2006: Sakie Nobuoka
* 2007: Momoko Takahashi
* 2008: Chisato Fukushima
* 2009: Momoko Takahashi
* 2010–16: Chisato Fukushima
* 2017: Kana Ichikawa
* 2018: Nodoka Seko
* 2019: Midori Mikase
* 2020: Mei Kodama
* 2021: Mei Kodama
* 2022: Arisa Kimishima
* 2023: Arisa Kimishima
* 2024: Arisa Kimishima

* v
* t
* e

Japan Championships in Athletics women's 200 metres champions

* 1928: Honjo Hatsu
* 1929: Kinue Hitomi
* 1930: Miyoko Hatamaru
* 1931: Kazuko Kashima
* 1932: Mie Muraoka
* 1933: Taka Shibata
* 1934: Masayo Hashimoto
* 1935: Kuriko Hirashima
* 1936: Kikumi Morita
* 1937–38: Kiyoko Itoda
* 1939–40: Fumiko Koshiyama
* 1941: Not held
* 1942: Rie Yamauchi
* 1943–45: Not held
* 1946: Shizuko Inaba
* 1947–49: Shizuko Inaba
* 1950: Kimiko Okamoto
* 1951: Midori Tanaka
* 1952: Marjorie Jackson-Nelson (AUS)
* 1953: Not held
* 1954–56: Midori Tanaka
* 1957: Yoshie Fujii
* 1958: Ikuko Yoda
* 1959–60: Yuko Kobayashi
* 1961–62: Reiko Ito
* 1963: Dorothy Hyman (GBR)
* 1964: Makiko Izawa
* 1965–67: Miyoko Tsujishita
* 1968–69: Ritsuko Ito
* 1970–71: Keiko Yamada
* 1972–73: Yuko Kitabayashi
* 1974: Keiko Yamada
* 1975–76: Yukiko Osako
* 1977–78: Emiko Konishi
* 1979: Sumiko Kaihara
* 1980: Yukiko Osako
* 1981–82: Hiromi Isozaki
* 1983: Emiko Konishi
* 1984–88: Hiromi Isozaki
* 1989: Toshie Iwamoto
* 1990: Ayako Nomura
* 1991: Pauline Davis-Thompson (BAH)
* 1992: Kazue Kakinuma
* 1993: Chiaki Takagi
* 1994–96: Toshie Iwamoto
* 1997: Tomomi Suzuki
* 1998–2003: Motoka Arai
* 2004–08: Sakie Nobuoka
* 2009: Chisato Fukushima
* 2010: Momoko Takahashi
* 2011–16: Chisato Fukushima
* 2017: Kana Ichikawa
* 2018: Chisato Fukushima
* 2019–22: Mei Kodama
* 2023: Arisa Kimishima
* 2024: Arisa Kimishima

* v
* t
* e

Japan Championships in Athletics women's long jump champions

* 1928–29: Kinue Hitomi
* 1930: Chiyo Yuasa
* 1931–33: Sumiko Watanabe
* 1934: Fusako Takino
* 1935: Kiyoko Itoda
* 1936: Shizuko Miwa
* 1937–38: Toyoko Yoshino
* 1939: Rie Yamauchi
* 1940: Toyoko Yoshino
* 1941: Not held
* 1942: Rie Yamauchi
* 1943–45: Not held
* 1946–48: Rie Yamauchi
* 1949–50: Seiko Sugimura
* 1951: Yoshiko Nishida
* 1952: Ayako Yoshikawa
* 1953: Yoshie Takahashi
* 1954: Kazue Otsuki
* 1955–56: Yoshie Takahashi
* 1957: Mikiko Tozaki
* 1958: Sachiko Kishimoto
* 1959–60: Fumiko Ito
* 1961: Kiyomi Akizuki
* 1962: Helga Hoffmann (FRG)
* 1963: Marie Land
* 1964: Sachiko Kishimoto
* 1965: Ritsuko Fujiyoshi
* 1966: Emiko Koumaru
* 1967–74: Hiroko Yamashita
* 1975: Keiko Ogawa
* 1976–79: Sumie Awara
* 1980: Kasumi Takano
* 1981: Niko Okumura
* 1982–83: Taeko Nakagawa
* 1984: Satomi Takase
* 1985–86: Minako Isogai
* 1987: Niko Okumura
* 1988: Minako Isogai
* 1989: Niko Okumura
* 1990: Larysa Berezhna (URS)
* 1991: Ayumi Sasaki
* 1992: Niko Okumura
* 1993: Liliana Năstase (ROM)
* 1994: Maho Hanaoka
* 1995: Shizuyo Nagashima
* 1996: Ayumi Sasaki
* 1997–98: Hitomi Takamatsu
* 1999: Kanako Sue
* 2000–02: Maho Hanaoka
* 2003: Kumiko Ikeda
* 2004: Maho Hanaoka
* 2005–07: Kumiko Ikeda
* 2008–09: Sachiko Masumi
* 2010–11: Kumiko Ikeda
* 2012–13: Saeko Okayama
* 2014: Mao Igarashi
* 2015: Saeko Okayama
* 2016: Konomi Kai
* 2017–18: Ayaka Kōra
* 2019: Sumire Hata
* 2020: Ayaka Kōra
* 2021-23: Sumire Hata

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