Joji Kato at a 2008 World Cup in Thialf (Heerenveen, The Netherlands) |
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | February 6, 1985 Yamagata, Yamagata |
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| Height | 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 61 kg (130 lb; 9.6 st) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country | Japan | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Joji Kato (加藤条治 Katō Jōji) (born February 6, 1985 in Yamagata) is a Japanese speedskater specialised in the sprinting distance 500 metres. At the age of 17 he became the first junior speedskater to skate the 500 metres below 35 seconds.
Until March 9, 2007 he was the world record holder with the 34.30 he skated in Salt Lake City on November 19, 2005. He lost the world record to Kang-Seok Lee, who skated 34.25 in Salt Lake City.
At the age of 20, he became the 500 metres World Champion at the 2005 World Single Distance Championships, leaving behind no less skaters then Hiroyasu Shimizu and Jeremy Wotherspoon. After this achievement he was considered to be one of the favourites of achieving a medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.
Prior to the 500 metre race, he named three skaters as his toughest competition: Jeremy Wotherspoon of Canada, Joey Cheek of the United States, and Dmitry Dorofeyev of Russia. Cheek and Dorofeyev won gold and silver, respectively, while Kato finished in sixth place. He was also beaten by his own countryman, Yuya Oikawa, who was fourth.
He represented Japan at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and he won bronze at Men's 500 metres.
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