was a Japanese swimmer who specialized in the 200 m

breaststroke Breaststroke is a human swimming, swimming style in which the swimmer is on their chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the water a large portion of the time, and ...

. In this event he won a silver medal at the 1932 Olympics and a bronze medal at the 1936 Olympics, and set an unofficial world record in 100 m between these Olympics. During his career Koike won eight national titles. After the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Koike became a coach for the Japanese national Olympic swimming team and chairman of the Japan Swimming Federation. He was present in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

during the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

, when Kyoko Iwasaki won the gold medal. In 1990 Koike received the

Olympic Order The Olympic Order, established in 1975, is the highest award of the Olympic Movement. It is awarded for particularly distinguished contributions to the Olympic Movement, i.e. recognition of efforts worthy of merit in the cause of sport. Tradit ...

in Silver, and in 1996 was inducted into the

International Swimming Hall of Fame The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum (ISHOF) is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests and serving as the central point for the stu ...

. He died of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...

in 1998.

References

1915 births 1998 deaths Olympic swimmers for Japan Olympic silver medalists for Japan Olympic bronze medalists for Japan Swimmers at the 1932 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1936 Summer Olympics Japanese male breaststroke swimmers Sportspeople from Numazu, Shizuoka Deaths from lung cancer Olympic bronze medalists in swimming Recipients of the Olympic Order Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1932 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in swimming 20th-century Japanese sportsmen {{Japan-Olympic-medalist-stub

See also

References