Sueo Ōe (大江 季雄, Ōe Sueo, August 2, 1914 – December 24, 1941) was a Japanese athlete who competed mainly in the pole vault. He won a bronze medal at the 1936 Summer Olympics held in Berlin, Germany, tying with his teammate Shuhei Nishida. When the two declined to compete against each other to decide a winner, Nishida was awarded the silver after a decision of the Japanese team, on the basis that Nishida had cleared the height in fewer attempts.[2] The competition was featured in a scene in the documentary Olympia, filmed by Leni Riefenstahl. On their return to Japan, Nishida and Ōe had their Olympic medals cut in half, and had a jeweler splice together two new “friendship medals”, half in bronze and half in silver.[3]
![]() Sueo Ōe (left) and Shuhei Nishida in 1930 | |||||||||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
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Native name | 大江 季雄 | ||||||||||||||||
Nationality | Japanese | ||||||||||||||||
Born | August 2, 1914 Nachikatsuura, Wakayama, Japan | ||||||||||||||||
Died | December 24, 1941(1941-12-24) (aged 27) Luzon, Philippines | ||||||||||||||||
Alma mater | Keio University[1] | ||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in) | ||||||||||||||||
Weight | 60 kg (130 lb) | ||||||||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||||||||
Sport | Athletics | ||||||||||||||||
Event(s) | Pole vault | ||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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In 1937 Ōe set a national record at 4 m 35 cm that stood for 21 years. In 1939 he joined the Imperial Japanese Army and was killed in action in Luzon on December 24, 1941.[1][4][5][6]
Japan Championships in Athletics men's pole vault champions | |
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