Chūhei Nambu
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| Olympic medal record | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Men's athletics | |||
| Gold | 1932 Los Angeles | Triple Jump | |
| Bronze | 1932 Los Angeles | Long Jump | |
Chūhei Nambu (南部 忠平 Nanbu Chūhei, May 27, 1904 - July 23, 1997) was a Japanese athlete. As of 2006, he is the only athlete to have held world records in both the long jump and the triple jump.
The first results known for Nambu, born in Sapporo, are from the mid-1920s. He was a member of the Japanese Olympic team at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, where he competed in three events. His best performance came in the triple jump, where he placed 4th, while his countryman Mikio Oda won the gold. In the long jump, he took 9th place, and he was eliminated with in the heats of the 4 x 100 m relay event.
Nambu's real breakthrough came in 1931. After improving his Japanese record a few times, he landed a long jump just two cm short of 8 m, a new world record.
The next year, at the Los Angeles Games, he was one of the favourites for the Olympic titles in both horizontal jumps. Nambu was disappointed with his third place in the long jump, but took revenge in the triple jump final, held a few days after the long jump. His winning mark of 15.72 m meant a new world record. Thereby, Nambu became the first athlete to hold the world record in both horizontal jumps. He remained holder of both records until 1935, when he lost them to Jesse Owens (long jump) and Jack Metcalfe (triple jump).
After his sportive career, Nambu became a sports journalist for Mainichi Shimbun. He also remained active in sports, being head coach for the Japanese Athletics Association, and acting as manager of the national team at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. In 1992, he was awarded the Olympic Order in silver by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Chūhei Nambu died at age 93 of pneumonia in his hometown Osaka.
| Olympic champions in men's triple jump |
|---|
| 1896: James Connolly | 1900: Myer Prinstein | 1904: Myer Prinstein | 1906: Peter O'Connor | 1908: Tim Ahearne | 1912: Gustaf Lindblom | 1920: Vilho Tuulos | 1924: Nick Winter | 1928: Mikio Oda | 1932: Chuhei Nambu | 1936: Naoto Tajima | 1948: Arne Åhman | 1952: Adhemar da Silva | 1956: Adhemar da Silva | 1960: Józef Szmidt | 1964: Józef Szmidt | 1968: Viktor Saneyev | 1972: Viktor Saneyev | 1976: Viktor Saneyev | 1980: Jaak Uudmäe | 1984: Al Joyner | 1988: Hristo Markov | 1992: Mike Conley | 1996: Kenny Harrison | 2000: Jonathan Edwards | 2004: Christian Olsson |
