Hitomi Kinue (1907-1931) was the first woman to win an Olympic medal for Japan. Her dazzling come-from-behind performance made waves at the first Olympics open to female athletes.
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Our athlete of the day was the first woman to win an Olympic medal for Japan. Her dazzling come-from-behind performance made waves at the first Olympics open to female athletes.
Let’s talk about Hitomi Kinue.
Kinue was born on January 1, 1907 in the Okayama Prefecture in Japan. Her parents were wealthy rice farmers who could afford to send her to the nearby school. From a young age, Kinue excelled in school athletics. She showed promise as both a volleyball and tennis player before finding her true passion: track and field.
While still in school, Kinue set national records for both the javelin and the triple jump. The triple jump, for those who aren’t familiar, is a sort of cousin to the more traditional long jump. Instead of leaping once into a sandpit at the end of a long runway -- a competitor in the triple jump will leap three times, each time off of one foot, before landing in the sandpit. The event requires great balance, precision and strength.
Kinue posted the world record for the triple jump in 1925. The following year, in 1926, she set another world record in the triple jump. This time, the record stood until 1939.
At the time Kinue was dominating Japan track and field, there was no formal organization around women’s international sports. The official Olympic Games were not open to female athletes. The founder of the International Olympic Committee, or IOC, was stridently against women joining the games. In an attempt to quiet growing calls for integration, the IOC created a separate Women’s World Games in 1920.
The second of the Women’s World Games were held in 1926 in Gothenburg, Sweden. There was only one Japanese representative: Kinue. Nineteen-year-old Kinue quickly became the darling of the second Women’s World Games. While we’re now accustomed to young female athletes capturing audiences at the Olympics, this was an entirely new phenomenon. We can imagine that Kinue’s reception was similar to modern Olympians like Katie Ledecky, Simone Biles or Chloe Kim.
Kinue’s performance earned the hype. While competing in Gothenburg, she set an official world record in long jump, placed first in standing long jump, second in the discus and third in the 100 yard dash. At the end of the games, Japan placed fifth overall with a total of 23 points. All 23 points were earned by Kinue.
Just two years later, Kinue was thrust back into the international spotlight. Now under new leadership, the 1928 Olympics include some female athletes. But progress was slow moving. Only women’s gymnastics and women’s track and field were included. And the number of track and field events available for female athletes was limited.
The Olympic organizers had excluded the 200 meter race - the event and distance Kinue felt most confident with. She entered the 100 meter dash in its place, but missed qualifying for the finals by fractions of a second.
Determined not to return to Japan empty-handed, she entered the 800 meter dash. This was an unconventional decision, to say the least. The 100 and 200 meters are dead sprints. It’s all about power. The 800 meters is considered one of the most complicated race distances since it requires a challenging combination of both speed and stamina.
Kinue’s coach told her the trick would be to fight her instinct to sprint at the beginning and save some gas in the tank for later. But when you’re used to running sprints, that’s easier said than done. When it came time for the 800 meter race, Kinue immediately jumped out to the front, sprinting the first half. But as her stamina began to fade, other runners started to pass her. Kinue fell all the way back to 7th place.
Reflecting on the race, Kinue said it was in this moment that she recalled her coach saying to use her arms when her legs were tired. Struggling to stay in the race, Kinue began swinging her arms higher and higher. Pumping them above eye level. Just like her coach said, her arms helped power her body as she gained ground on the other runners. In the final straightaway - the last 50 meters of the race - she pushed past her exhaustion and thrust forward to the finish line.
Kinue won the silver with a time of 2 minutes and 17 seconds, she was only .8 seconds behind the gold medalist. Kinue’s time broke the standing world record and remained the record in Asia for more than twenty years. With her come-from-behind second place finish, Kinue became the first Japanese woman to win an Olympic medal.
With Kinue’s new found celebrity status came sexist critiques from the Japanese press. At 5’7” Kinue stood taller than most Japanese women. Reporters frequently cast her gender into question, asking Kinue if she was actually a man, or if she was worried sports were making her body too masculine.
Despite these sexist attacks, Kinue kept competing. In 1930, she returned for the third Women’s World Games in Prague. There, she maintained her World title in long jump, finished second in the triathlon and third in both the 60 meter dash and javelin. As a result, she placed second overall in the individual standings.
Following the close of the Women’s World Games, Kinue competed in 20 events in one week. First, in seven events against Poland, then six days later in another six events against Belgium. The following day, she competed in her final seven events against France.
Over the course of this week, Kinue’s versatility and power were on full display. But her dynamic performance would also be the end of her career. As a result of the physically demanding schedule of these European competitions, Kinue returned to Japan and was hospitalized for pleurisy [plur-uh-see]. She died from pneumonia on August 2, 1931. She was 24 years old.
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