Kosuke Kitajima

Nickname

Kita-san, Frog King. (TV Asahi, 22 Aug 2006; supersport.com, 21 Jul 2011)

Hobbies

He loves to unwind by buying clothes. "I love fashion. One of the ways I can relax is by going shopping and to buy things that will change the way I feel." (Metropolis, 22 Aug 2003)

Education

Health Science, Physical Education - Nippon Sports Science University, Setagaya, JPN

Language(s) spoken

Japanese

Club name

Coca Cola Japan

Coach

Dave Salo from 2009 (supersport.com, 21 Jul 2011)

Position and style

Breaststroke (JSF, 03 Sep 2010)

Injuries

He tore his left abductor muscle during the 2011 national trials. (supersport.com, 21 Jul 2011)

He injured his shoulder in August 2009 resulting in him pulling out of the men's 200m at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou. (Asiad Daily, 19 Nov 2010)

An elbow injury kept him out of the 200m breaststroke at the 2002 Pan Pacific Championships in Yokohama, Japan. (The Hindu, 03 Oct 2002)

He has suffered elbow and knee injuries during breaststroke training and had to reduce the amount of time he spent doing specific stroke work to reduce the stress on his joints. (Swimnews, 29 Nov 2006)

Additional information

Start of sporting career
He started swimming at age five when he went to a short-term swimming school at the Tokyo Swimming Centre with his friend. (mizuno.com, 02 Jul 2009; kitajima-kosuke.com, 02 Nov 2010)

Reason for taking up this sport
He sees swimming as a challenge and a way to show the world 'what he is made of'. (mizuno.com, 02 Jul 2009)

Training
He has a laid-back training regime under coach David Salo. "We ride balance balls in the water. Sometimes we go to the beach together. It was a fresh surprise to find there is such a fun kind of swimming." (supersport.com, 21 Jul 2011)

Hero
Japanese judokas Tadahiro Nomura and Hidehiko Yoshida, and Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe. (Lint, 13 Aug 2003, kids.gakken.co.jp 15 May 2008)
He also admires former professional baseball player Tatsunori Hara, and former Japanese marathon athlete Naoko Takahashi. (JOC 08 Aug 2008)

Sporting philosophy / motto
"When you're feeling good, you can do no wrong. But when you just aren't feeling it, it's critical to work with the water to somehow pull yourself together."
(mizuno.com, 02 Jul 2009)

Awards
He was the first swimmer in history to win gold in both the 100m and 200m breaststroke events at successive Olympic Games. In 2004 he became the second male, after Domenico Fioravanti in 2000, to win the breaststroke double. He made history in 2008 by defending both his Olympic titles, also becoming the only breaststroke swimmer to win a total of four Olympic gold medals. (ONS, 24 Aug 2008)

His gold medal-winning performances in the 100m and 200m breaststroke at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, made him the first swimmer from Japan to win two gold medals at the same Olympic Games. (Gold Magazine - Doha 2006 28 May 2006)

In 2003 he became the first swimmer from Asia to win a world championship title after he won both the 100m and 200m breaststroke, setting new world records in both events at the world championships in Barcelona, Spain. (The Japan Times 17 Aug 2004)

He was named Athlete of the Games at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea after a performance that included breaking the 200m breaststroke world record. (The Hindu, 16 Oct 2002)

General
TIME OFF AND EMIGRATION
After the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing he took the 2009 season off. "I wanted to live on 'dry land' for a while and challenge new and different things," he said. He spent the time coaching children and giving speeches about his athletic career. In March 2009, amid speculation he would retire, he announced his intention to move to the United States to study English. I want to swim for Japan once again. After Beijing my heart wasn't in it but I still have something left. After I saw [Japan win] the World Baseball Classic, I realised how much I love the Japanese flag. (FINA Aquatics World Magazine, Mar 2010; swimmingworldmagazine.com, 01 Mar 2009; hansonmediagroup.com.au, 01 Mar 2009)

I AM THE SWIMMER
In June 2008 he wore a T-shirt stating 'I am the swimmer' to protest the Japan Swimming Federation's restrictions on which swimsuits Japanese competitors could compete in at the Japan Open. "It's a shame Japanese swimmers haven't been permitted to wear the Speedo suit." (swimmingworldmagazine.com, 06 Jun 2008)

DOLPHIN KICK CONTROVERSY
His gold medal in the 100m breaststroke at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens came under question when United States' backstroker Aaron Peirsol accused him of using an illegal dolphin kick. Peirsol claimed Kitajima had employed the illegal kick on entering the pool to give him extra momentum, despite the rules requiring that only a breaststroke-type kick be used in the race. "He knows that [the judges] can't see that underwater. He knew what he was doing. It's cheating," Peirsol said. Kitajima's coach, Norimasa Hirai, said he never uses a dolphin kick and Kitajima himself refused comment, saying he had no response to the accusation. (NBC Olympics, 01 Sep 2004)

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
As part of one of Coca-Cola's sponsorship campaigns, he visits local schools and talks to children about his achievements in the hope of inspiring them to take up swimming. (cocacola.co.jp, 22 Jan 2008)

EARLY DAYS
As a young boy in school, he wrote that in the future he was going to be an Olympian. At age seven he joined a swimming team. He swam with all the other kids, just for fun. Then, when he was still at school, he had a chance to swim with Akira Hayashi, Japan's 1994 Asian Games 100m breaststroke champion, and from then on decided he wanted to compete at the Olympic Games. By age 10, he had begun competing in Japan's National Junior Championships.
(Swimming Technique Jul-Sep 2003; kids.gakken.co.jp, 15 May 2008)

Previous Olympics

Beijing 2008, Athens 2004, Sydney 2000