Background
Kenkichi Oshima was born in Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan in 1908.
大島 鎌吉
Kenkichi Oshima was born in Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan in 1908.
Since middle school days he was a distinguished field athlete (in hop-step and jump and running broad jump). He graduated from Kansai University in 1934. While still a student, he set a new unofficial world record for the triple jump, and was widely expected to secure the gold medal in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. He finished third with a jump of 15.12 meters behind the teammate Chuhei Nambu who took gold. Oshima also participated in the same event in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, but came in sixth place, while teammates Naoto Tajima and Masao Harada took the gold and silver medals, respectively.
After graduation from Kansai University, Oshima was employed by the Mainichi Shimbun, working as a reporter in the sports section of the newspaper until retirement.
He then accepted the post of professor emeritus and later vice president of Osaka University of Health and Sport Sciences, where he undertook reforms of the athletic department to strengthen the Japanese team in preparation for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. He was also an honorary member of the International Olympic Committee and an author of numerous books on sports.
Fluent in the German language, during the Berlin Olympics, Oshima had a 20-minute interview of Adolf Hitler, who apparently mistook Oshima for a Japanese military attache of the same surname. Oshima asked Hitler many questions on Nazi initiatives to improve on the physical education of German youth.
Physical Characteristics: Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in), Weight 67 kg (148 lb)