Career
He represented his country twice at the Summer Olympics (1928 and 1932) and was the first Asian to compete in the Olympic javelin throw. Born in Hiroshima, Japan, he first emerged as a javelin thrower at the 1927 Far Eastern Championship Games held in Shanghai. His winning mark of 56.90 m (186 ft 8 in) was an improvement of over five metres on the previous games record set two years earlier.
He made his Olympic debut for Japan at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics and placed thirteenth in the qualifying round with a mark of 59.05 m (193 ft 83⁄4 in).
This appearance made his Asia"s first ever entrant into the Olympic javelin throw. Sumiyoshi continued his regional dominance at the 1930 Far Eastern Championship Games in Tokyo.
He travelled to Vienna that year to compete against Western competitors and had a lifetime best throw of 66.42 m (217 ft 103⁄4 in) – a feat which ranked him seventh globally that year. A year later, he was again over the sixty-six-metre mark, having a season"s best of 66.03 m (216 ft 71⁄2 in) in the Japanese capital and ranking eighth in the world.
He confirmed his form prior to the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics with a mark of 64.12 m (210 ft 41⁄4 in) in Tokyo in May.
He was selected for the 1932 Olympic javelin alongside team mate Saburo Nagao and managed to finish in eighth place with 61.14 m (200 ft 7 in). In his last recorded season of athletic competition, he recorded 65.58 m (215 ft 13⁄4 in) in September 1933 in São Paulo Paulo, placing twelfth globally.
