Yoshinori Sakai

Yoshinori Sakai (坂井さかい義則よしのり, Sakai Yoshinori, born in Miyoshi, Hiroshima, Japan, August 6, 1945 – September 10, 2014) was the Olympic flame torchbearer who lit the cauldron at the 1964 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Sakai was born on the day of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

He was chosen for the role to symbolize Japan's postwar reconstruction and peace. At the time he was a member of Waseda University's running club.

The nineteen-year-old was coached in the ceremonial duty by Teruji Kogake, a triple jump world record-holder turned coach.^[1]

After the Olympic games, he won a gold medal in 1600 m relay and a silver in 400 m at 1966 Asian Games in Bangkok. He joined Fuji Television in 1968 as a journalist and worked mainly in the fields of news and sports.^[2] He never actually competed in the Olympics.

References

^ Tokyo 2016 website
^ Masuda, Masafumi (2004). "JOC - 東京とうきょうオリンピックから40年ねん (Forty years from Tokyo Olympics)" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2008-04-23. Retrieved 2008-08-12.

Olympic Games
Preceded by Giancarlo Peris	Final Summer Olympic Torchbearer Tokyo 1964	Succeeded by Norma Enriqueta Basilio de Sotelo

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[1] Tokyo 2016 website

[2] Masuda, Masafumi (2004). "JOC - 東京とうきょうオリンピックから40年ねん (Forty years from Tokyo Olympics)" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2008-04-23. Retrieved 2008-08-12.

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