is a retired Japanese track and field sprinter and Japan's fourth-fastest record holder of 100m sprint with a time of 10.00 seconds. He held the 100 metres Japanese national record between December 1998 and September 2017. He is a former Asian record holder in the 100 metres and 200 metres, and still holds the indoor record as well as the 4×400 metres relay record.
He is married to former long-distance runner Hiromi Suzuki.
Career He started out as a 400 metres runner and after winning a bronze at the 1991 Asian Athletics Championships, he was selected for the relay at the 1991 World Championships in Athletics and represented his country on home turf. In 1993 he won a bronze medal at the 1993 East Asian Games and the 1993 Asian Athletics Championships. He managed to reach the quarter-finals of the 200 m of the World Championships that year. His 1994 was highlighted by a silver medal at his first Asian Games in Hiroshima.
He represented Japan at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and managed to reach the semifinals of the 200 m and helped the 4×400 m relay to secure fifth place in the final in an Asian record time. He won his first major championship title in 1997, winning the 200 m gold at the East Asian Games, but he did not get past the heat stages at either the IAAF World Indoor Championships or the World Championships in Athletics.
The following year marked his career peak: he started with a win in the 200 m at the 1998 Asian Athletics Championships and went on to win a sprint double at the 1998 Asian Games in Games record times. In winning the Asian Games 100 m crown on 13 December 1998 (Bangkok) he ran a time of 10.00 seconds, during a semi-final heat.sports.sohu.com / chinaedunet.com (2010-01-21). Outstanding Japanese athletes in Asian Games The Official Website of the 16th Asian Games. Retrieved 25 February 2012. This time had been Japanese national record for 19 years until Yoshihide Kiryū shaving 0.02 off in 2017. He was the Most Valuable Player of the 13th Asian Games.
Ito also clocked a personal best of 20.16 s in the 200 m on 2 October 1998 at Kumamoto, Japan. He put in a strong performance at the 1999 World Indoor Championships, just missing out on the 60 metres final and running an Asian indoor record time for fifth place in the 200 m competition. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Ito finished seventh in the semi-finals in both the 100 m and 200 m events (10.39 s and 20.67 s respectively); the Japanese men's team (Nobuharu Asahara, Koji Ito, Shigeyuki Kojima, Shingo Suetsugu) finished sixth in 38.66 s. Suetsugu later went on to follow in Ito's footsteps as Japan's top male sprinter. Ito never again matched the form of his high-water-mark 1998 season and retired in 2002.
Achievements Representing 1991Asian Athletics ChampionshipsKuala Lumpur, Malaysia3rd400 mWorld ChampionshipsTokyo, Japan4th (heats) relay1993East Asian GamesShanghai, China3rd200 mWorld ChampionshipsStuttgart, Germany6th (quarter-finals)200 m7th (heats) relayAsian Athletics ChampionshipsManila, Philippines3rd400 m1994Asian GamesHiroshima, Japan2nd200 m1st4X100 m Relay1995World Indoor ChampionshipsBarcelona, Spain5th (semis)200 mWorld ChampionshipsGothenburg, Sweden6th (quarter-finals)200 m1996Summer OlympicsAtlanta, United States6th (semis)200 mDNF relay5th (AR) relay1997World Indoor ChampionshipsParis, France3rd (heats)60 m4th (heats)200 mEast Asian GamesBusan, South Korea 1st200 mWorld ChampionshipsAthens, Greece4th (heats)100 m4th (heats)200 m1998Asian Athletics ChampionshipsFukuoka, Japan 1st200 mAsian GamesBangkok, Thailand1st100 m1st200 m1st4X100 m RelayIAAF World CupJohannesburg, South Africa4th200 m1999World Indoor ChampionshipsMaebashi, Japan4th (semis)60 m5th (AR)200 mWorld ChampionshipsSeville, Spain7th (quarter-finals)100 m6th (semis)200 m4th (heats) relay2000Summer OlympicsSydney, Australia7th (semis)100 m7th (semis)200 m6th relay
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