Masaji Kiyokawa

Masaji Kiyokawa
Personal information
Full name 清川 正二
Nationality Japan
Born February 13, 1913
Toyohashi, Aichi, Japan
Died 13 April 1999 (aged 86)
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokes backstroke

Masaji Kiyokawa (清川 正二 Kiyokawa Masaji, February 11, 1913 - April 13, 1999) was a Japanese businessman, and former Olympic medalist in swimming at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin.

Kiyokawa was born in Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. He graduated from the Tokyo College of Commerce (now Hitotsubashi University). Selected to be a member of the Japanese swimming team at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, he won the gold medal in the Men's 100 m Backstroke event, with teammates Toshio Irie and Kentaro Kawatsu taking the silver and bronze. In the 1936 Berlin Olympics, he placed third place in the same event, winning the bronze medal.

In 1948, Kiyokawa became a director of the Japan Swimming Federation, and a member of the International Olympic Committee from 1975-1989, serving as Vice Chairman from 1979-1983. During his tenure, the city of Nagoya made a strong bid for the 1988 Summer Olympics, competing against Seoul, South Korea. Kiyokawa was critical of the large amounts of money being spent by both parties to entertain and influence the votes of the IOC members by both parties. He was also critical of the decision of the Japanese government to bow to political pressure from the United States to boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. Kiyokawa was also the CEO of the general trading company Kanematsu Corp. from 1976. He died in 1999 due to Pancreatic cancer.

Competitive highlights

References

External links