was a Japanese athlete

Athletics (track and field)

Athletics is an exclusive collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking...

 who jointly held the world record

World record

A world record is usually the best global performance ever recorded and verified in a specific skill or sport. The book Guinness World Records collates and publishes notable records of all types, from first and best to worst human achievements, to extremes in the natural world and beyond...

 for the men's 100 metre sprint

Sprint (race)

Sprints are short running events in athletics and track and field. Races over short distances are among the oldest running competitions. The first 13 editions of the Ancient Olympic Games featured only one event—the stadion race, which was a race from one end of the stadium to the other...

, recording a time of 10.3 seconds in Japan in 1935.

Four other men had achieved 10.3 before Takayoshi, including Ralph Metcalfe

Ralph Metcalfe

Ralph Harold Metcalfe was an African-American athlete and politician who came second to Jesse Owens in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Metcalfe jointly held the world record for the 100 meter sprint. Metcalfe was known as the world’s fastest human from 1932 through 1934...

 who achieved the same time on four separate occasions. Takayoshi is the only person from Japan, and indeed all of Asia, to have held the world record in this event.

Takayoshi finished sixth in the final of the 100 metre event at the 1932 Summer Olympics

1932 Summer Olympics

The 1932 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the X Olympiad, was a major world wide multi-athletic event which was celebrated in 1932 in Los Angeles, California, United States. No other cities made a bid to host these Olympics. Held during the worldwide Great Depression, many nations...

, the first Japanese man to reach an Olympic final, and the last until Ito Koji achieved the feat in at the 1992 games.

External links

• International Olympic Committee website - source of Olympic results.