The Japanese Women’s Volleyball Team: The Hardest Part

The 1964 Games in Tokyo saw the introduction of volleyball as an Olympic event. The sport enjoyed wide popularity in the host country, so expectations were high. Chosen to represent Japan was the country’s best women’s team, the Kaizuku Amazons, sponsored by the Dai Nippon spinning mill located near Ōsaka. The team was coached by Daimatsu Hirofumi, an office-supplies manager at the mill. Infamous because of his tough training regimen, Daimatsu gained the reputation as a heartless drill sergeant whose intense practice sessions bordered on cruelty. But with the pressure facing the team, perhaps no one was better prepared than Daimatsu to lead the team to victory in the Games.

For most of the members of the team, who were employed by the mill, the workday was two-pronged. First, a regular shift in the mill; then, six to seven hours of Daimatsu’s exhausting training, which included physical as well as emotional torment. Daimatsu pioneered the rolling receive, in which players dive, hit the ball, and roll quickly back to their feet. Taunting and goading, which was intended to test the will of every player, accompanied endless repetitions of this training technique. There was little rest—the women trained 7 days a week, 51 weeks a year.

Hopes for a gold medal were almost dashed before the Games began: North Korea pulled out, leaving only five countries in the women’s volleyball tournament, one short of the required minimum. Japan quickly offered financial aid to South Korea so that it could field a team. Once the tournament began, it was obvious that the Japanese team would dominate. On a night when 80 percent of the television households in Japan were tuned to Olympic volleyball, Japan easily beat the U.S.S.R. in the final 15–11, 15–9, 15–13. The team lost only one game, and that came during a match against Poland, when Daimatsu pulled some of his better players to prevent the Soviet team from getting a good look at them. All 12 team members were in tears on the victory stand, holding exactly what their coach had promised—a gold medal.