Yae Sagara

Yae Sagara was raised in the Kochi Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. In 1932 she entered the Japan Women’s College of Physical Education. Winning the high jump at the Japanese Athletics Championships in the same year earned her a place on the team for the Los Angeles Olympics. After graduation she worked as a physical education teacher in Miyoshi, Hiroshima Prefecture.

In 1940 Sagara married a member of the esteemed Maeda family. After having a heart attack in 1966, she collapsed on her way to the city council election and died in the arms of her husband. She is known to have served as the model for the heroine in the novel The Fruit of Olympus published in 1940 by Hidemitsu Tanaka, a well-known novelist and rowing Olympian.

Personal Best: HJ - 1.50 (1932).