Masahiro Akimoto

Japanese ski jumper Masahiro Akimoto competed from the late 1970s until the late 1980s, earning four individual World Cup wins. Akimoto had a good start to his career, with his first World Cup victory coming on the large hill event in Sapporo in January 1980. A month later he was part of the Japanese Olympic team for the Lake Placid Games. He just missed out on a medal, finishing fourth on the normal hill, only 0.7 points behind both Manfred Deckert (GDR) and Hirokazu Yagi (JPN), who each won a silver with the same score. He also placed 10th in the large hill event after recovering from 18th place in his first jump.

In March 1980 Akimoto won his second World Cup title with a win on the large hill in Štrbské Pleso, Czechoslovakia. He continued to compete for the next year or so, but was arrested in 1982 after hitting and killing a man whilst out driving. He was then suspended from international competitions, resulting in him missing the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics. Akimoto returned to his day job of working as a managing director of a construction company, before eventually retuning to the sport in the mid-1980s. After winning two more World Cup titles in Sapporo, he then competed at the 1986 Ski Flying World Championships. On the second day of the competition, however, Akimoto crashed heavily, suffering a serious leg fracture.

After a lengthy rehabilitation programme Akimoto made a brief comeback to the sport before retiring for good after failing to make the Japanese team for the 1988 Calgary Olympics. He later turned to politics, representing a regional party at the 2005 Japanese general election, but failing to be elected.