Bunta Suzuki

While attending Kawagoe High School Bunta Suzuki participated in the 16th National Junior High School Athletics Championships in 1930, winning the 100 and 200 metres. In 1933 he won the 200 at the Japan Athletics Championships. In the following year he entered the Faculty of Law of the Keio University. He represented Japan at the 10th Far Eastern Games in Manila, placing third in the 200, and at the 6th International University Games in Budapest, placing second in the 100 m and third in the 200 metres. At the 1936 Berlin Olympics, however, he failed to advance to the semi-final of the 100 and, running the second leg in the 4x100 m relay, missed the baton in the first heat. After graduating from university, Suzuki briefly worked for the Hitachi Company before joining the Imperial Japanese Army as a volunteer. He was transferred to the Chinese front in 1939 and was killed that year on the northern bank of the Yellow River. At home, the death of the Olympic athlete was used to lift up the fighting spirits of the Japanese, and a great funeral was held.

Personal Best: 100 – 10.6 (1934).