August 14, 2008
200m Breastroke - Beijing Olympics
April 9, 2008
BIOGRAPHY
Kosuke Kitajima
is a Japanese breaststroke swimmer. He has a height
of 177 centimeters and a weight of 71 kilograms. He
first made history by being the first swimmer to set
a new world record at the Asian Games when he did so
in the 200m breastroke in 2002 at Busan. He won gold
medals for the Men's 100 m and 200 m breaststroke in
the 2004 Summer Olympics.
There is a controversy about Kitajima's swimming
style. On his breaststroke pull-out at every start
and turn, some say that he moves his legs making a
butterfly stroke-like movement, which was forbidden
at the time of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
Protests have been officially logged against him for
this (as done by the United States' swimming
delegation at the 2004 Olympic Games), but he has
never been disqualified from an important
competition for this. Perhaps due to the
controversial incident at 2004 Olympics, FINA has
changed the rule of breaststroke to allow one
butterfly-like leg motion after the start and each
turn since the 2005 World Championships.
His most significant rival on the breaststroke is
the American swimmer Brendan Hansen. They dueled out
at events such as the 2005 World Championships, 2004
Summer Olympics and 2003 World Championships.
Kitajima set both world records for 100 m and 200 m
breaststroke in the latter occasion. Later his best
in 200 m was overcome by Dimitri Komornikov and then
by Hansen, who holds it with 2:08.50, along with a
new world record in the 100 m.
During the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Kitajima
generated buzz for his primal screams of exuberance
after edging out Hansen in the 100 m and 200 m
breaststroke for the gold. At a pool side interview
(3'24") following his victory in the 100 m, Kosuke
Kitajima also popularised the phrase
'cho-kimochi-ii,' meaning "I feel mega good." The
word went on to win the 2004 U-Can Neoligisms and
Vogue Words contest.
