Native name 大江 季雄 Sport Athletics Role Olympic athlete Weight 60 kg Events Pole vault | Nationality Japan Name Sueo Oe Height 1.72 m | |
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Born August 2, 1914 Nachikatsuura, Wakayama, Japan Died December 24, 1941, Wake Island, United States Minor Outlying Islands Bronze medals Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics – Men\'s pole vault | ||
The Half-Silver and Half-Bronze Olympic Medals | Throwback Thursday
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 arbitrarily awarded the silver. 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.
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 the Battle of Wake Island on December 24, 1941.