Shiro Hashizume

Shiro Hashizume (born September 20, 1928) is a retired freestyle swimmer from Wakayama, Japan, who won the silver medal in the men's 1500m freestyle at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. He broke the world record in the same event on August 16, 1949, clocking 18:35.7, but that time was bettered the same day by compatriot Hironoshin Furuhashi at the American Swimming Championships in Los Angeles, California.

Born in 1928, Hashizume should have been at his peak for the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, but Japan was not yet permitted back into the Olympic Family of Nations following the end of World War II. Therefore he had to settle for breaking the world record at a time when he may also have won the Olympic Gold medal. At the time the world assembled in London for the fifteenth Olympiad, Japan held its own national championships of Olympic events. Hashizume swam the 1500m freestyle in 18 minutes, 37.8 seconds, faster than Jimmy McLane's 19 minutes, 18.5 seconds gold medal swim halfway around the world in London.

In the preliminary heat of the 1952 Summer Olympics, Hashizume established a new Olympic record of 18 minutes, 41 seconds to win the silver medal in the 1500m freestyle behind the USA's Ford Konno.

In 1987, Hashizume, a 1951 graduate from Nihon University Faculty of Law, was awarded Japan's prestigious Order of the Purple Ribbon "Shiju Hosho" – an order for a person meritorious in the field of art and science. In 1992 he was inducted as a honoree in the International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF). He is a member of the Board of Education in Yokohama City, and Managing Director of the Hashizume Swimming School.

References

* [http://www.ishof.org/ ISHOF]
* [http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ha/shiro-hashizume-1.html Sports-Reference.com]
* [http://www.nikkansports.com/sydney/rensai/hashizume.html] ja