Kosuke Hagino

Kosuke Hagino

Personal information
Nickname(s)	Rising Son
Nationality	Japan
Born	15 August 1994 Oyama, Japan
Height	177 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	71 kg (157 lb)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Backstroke, freestyle, medley
College team	Toyo University
Medal record yes Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 1 1 2 World Championships (LC) 0 2 0 World Championships (SC) 1 1 0 Pan Pacific Championships 2 3 0 Asian Games 4 1 2 Total 8 8 4 Olympic Games 2016 Rio de Janeiro 400 m medley 2016 Rio de Janeiro 200 m medley 2012 London 400 m medley 2016 Rio de Janeiro 4×200 m freestyle World Championships (LC) 2013 Barcelona 400 m freestyle 2013 Barcelona 200 m medley World Championships (SC) 2014 Doha 200 m medley 2014 Doha 400 m medley Pan Pacific Championships 2014 Gold Coast 200 m medley 2014 Gold Coast 400 m medley 2014 Gold Coast 200 m freestyle 2014 Gold Coast 400 m freestyle 2014 Gold Coast 4×200 m freestyle Asian Games 2014 Incheon 200 m freestyle 2014 Incheon 200 m medley 2014 Incheon 400 m medley 2014 Incheon 4×200 m freestyle 2014 Incheon 400 m freestyle 2014 Incheon 100 m backstroke 2014 Incheon 200 m backstroke

Kosuke Hagino (萩野公介 Hagino Kōsuke, born 15 August 1994) is a Japanese competitive swimmer who specializes in the individual medley and 200 m freestyle.^[1] He is a four-time Olympic medalist, most notably winning gold in the 400 m individual medley at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Hagino holds the Asian Records in the 200 m and 400 m individual medley (long course), the 100 m and 200 m individual medley (short course). With team Japan, he holds the Asian Records for the 4×100 m freestyle relay and the 4×100 m medley relay.

Having attends the Toyo University, and is coached by Norimasa Hirai. He is the one of the only two Asians to be voted World Swimmer of the Year.

Career

Beginnings: 2012 Olympic Games

Hagino made his international breakthrough at the 2012 Olympics held in London. Hagino qualified First in the 400 m individual medley heats with a new Asian record of 4:10.01,^[2] and would go on to win his first international medal with a bronze in the event and again lower his Asian record to a 4:08.94.^[3]

Rise to recognition: 2013 World Championships

Coming into the Championships Hagino had qualified for a full slate of events including the 200 m freestyle, 400 m freestyle, 100 m backstroke, 200 m backstroke, 200 m individual medley and the 400 m individual medley. In his first event the 400 m freestyle Hagino won his first silver medal at the World Championships medal with a new Japanese record of 3:44.82.^[4]

In the Finals of 200 m Free Style, Hagin clocked a personal best time of 1:45.94.;^[5] he came in 5th.

Nearly an hour later, he was swimming, this time in the Finals of the 100 m backstroke. He was placed seventh in 53.93, much slower than his National record of 53.10 (which would have won him a silver medal.^[6])

On day five, after qualifying for the final, Hagino won another silver medal in the 200 m individual medley. His time of 1:56.29 was about half a second off his Nationals time of 1:55.74; he won Silver^[7] The following day, he led off his team, in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay, and was able to take off a hundredth of a second off his 200 m free time from day three, swimming a 1:45.93.^[8] He was placed fifth in the 200 m backstroke final that night, finishing in 1:55.42.

On the final night of competition, despite being the favorite, Hagino was only able to manage fifth place, finishing in 4:10.77. Although only winning two medals in his seven events, he was the only swimmer at the meet to swim six individual events.

Breakthrough: 2014 Pan Pacific Championships and 2014 Asian Games

2014 Pan Pacific Championships

On day one of the Pan Pacs in Gold Coast, Hagino swam in the 200m freestyle. Hagino swam fastest in the heats, with 1:46.60, besting second place Conor Dwyer by five hundredths of a second. He later shaved almost half a second off his heats timing in the 'A' final, bringing it down to 1:46.08, a tenth of a second behind Thomas Fraser-Holmes.^[9] Hagino would earn a silver, his first medal of the meet.

On day two, Hagino swam in the 400m individual medley in his first event of the day. Hagino again swam fastest in the heats with 4:11.48, around three tenths of a second faster than second place and long-time rival, fellow Japanese Daiya Seto. Hagino would again swim fastest in the 'A' final with 4:08.31 for his first gold and second medal of the meet.^[10] Hagino later swam in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay as the lead, clocking 1:46.13, touching first for Japan in the first leg. Japan finished second to the U.S. with 7:05.30, settling for silver.^[11]

On day three, Hagino swam in the 400m freestyle. Hagino swam with a time of 3:48.92 in the heats, at fourth place. He then swam 3:44.56 in the 'A' final, finishing more than a second behind winner Park Tae-hwan.^[12] He earned his third silver and fourth medal of the meet. Hagino then swam in the 200m backstroke, where he qualified fifth with 1:56.94. He finished last in the 'A' final, where he surprisingly swam almost three seconds slower than his heats timing.^[13] It would be Hagino's only medal-less event.

On day four and Hagino's final event, he swam in the 200m individual medley that featured a competitive field including teammate Seto and American legends Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte and Tyler Clary. Hagino swam fastest in the heats with a 1:57.61, besting second place Seto by more than a half a second. He again swam fastest in the 'A' final, swimming 1:56.62, narrowly out-touching Phelps by two hundredths of a second.^[14] He earned his second gold of the meet.

Hagino earned medals in five of his six events. He won two gold and three silver medals.

2014 Asian Games

On the first day of the Asiad in Incheon, Hagino swam in the 200m freestyle that featured Asia's best with Asian Record holder Sun Yang and Games Record holder Park Tae-hwan. He clocked 1:48.99 for second place in the heats, nine hundredths of a second behind Sun. In the final, Hagino shaved off more than two seconds off his heats timing, swimming 1:45.23 for his first gold medal of the Games.^[15] Hagino then swam in the 100m backstroke, clocking the third fastest time in the heats with 54.86. In the final, he swam almost a second faster for a bronze, and his second medal of the games.^[16]

On Day Two, Hagino swam in the 200m individual medley, which he holds the Asian Record of 1:55.33. He surprisingly swam third in the heats, clocking 2:00.85. In the final, he missed his own Asian Record by one hundredth of a second, but set a new Games Record.^[17] It was his second gold of the Games. Hagino later swam in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay, which Japan held the Asian Record of 7:02.26. He swam a split of 1:44.97, the fastest split of any swimmer in the relay. Japan would then fail to beat their record, however set a new Games Record of 7:06.74 for the gold medal.^[18]

On day three, Hagino swam in the 400m freestyle than again featured Asian Record holder Sun and Games Record holder Park. He qualified second with 3:52.24 in the heats, and brought his time down to 3:44.48, but again finished second to Sun.^[19] He earned his first silver of the Games.

On day four, Hagino swam in the 400m individual medley, which he holds the Asian Record of 4:07.61. He finished second to prime rival Seto in the heats, swimming 4:18.77, around two seconds slower. Hagino then swam close to his personal best with 4:07.75 in the final, failing to beat his Asian Record but setting a new Games Record. It was his fourth gold medal.^[20]

On day five and Hagino's final event, he swam in the 200m backstroke, and qualified fourth in the heats with 2:00.34. He managed to win bronze in the final, swimming 1:56.36.^[21]

Hagino swam seven-for-seven, earning four golds, a silver and three bronze medals. He was announced as the Most Valuable Player (MVP).^{[22][23][24][25][26][27][28]}

Hagino was also World Swimmer of the Year, and is the first and only Japanese to earn the award.^[29][30][31]

Continued Success: 2016 Olympic Games

Hagino competed in his second Olympic games at the 2016 Olympics held in Rio de Janeiro. Hagino qualified third in the heats and went on to win gold for the 400 m individual medley, breaking his own Asian record with a time of 4:06.05 and winning Japan's first-ever gold for this event.^[32][33] Hagino won silver in the 200 m individual medley,^[34] becoming the first Asian man (along with Wang Shun) to medal at the event,^[35] and bronze in the 4x200 m freestyle relay.^[36]

Personal bests (long course)^[37]

As of 08 Aug 2016.

Event	Time	Meet	Venue	Date	Note(s)
100 m freestyle	48.75		Japan
200 m freestyle	1:45.23	Asian Games 2014	Incheon, South Korea	September 21, 2014	NR
400 m freestyle	3:43.90	Japan Swim 2014	Tokyo, Japan	April 12, 2014	NR
100 m backstroke	53.08	All Japan Intercollegiate Swimming Championships 2014	Kanagawa, Japan	April 11, 2014
200 m backstroke	1:54.77	Japan Swim 2014	Tokyo, Japan	January 25, 2014
200 m medley	1:55.07	Japan Swim 2016	Tokyo, Japan	April 9, 2016	AS
400 m medley	4:06.05	Olympic Games 2016	Brazil	August 6, 2016	AS

References

1. "Kosuke Hagino". London2012.com. Retrieved 28 July 2012.
2. "Men's 400m Individual Medley - Heats | London 2012 Olympics".
3. "Men's Swimming 400m Individual Medley Final - London 2012 Olympics".
4. "Men's 400m Freestyle FINA World Championships Barcelona 2013".
5. "Men's 200m Freestyle FINA World Championships Barcelona 2013".
6. "Men's 100m Backstroke FINA World Championships Barcelona 2013".
7. "Men's 200m Medley FINA World Championships Barcelona 2013".
8. "Men's 4x200m Freestyle FINA World Championships Barcelona 2013".
9. "2014 Pan Pacs - 200m Freestyle Mens Final".
10. "2014 Pan Pacs - 400m Individual Medley Mens Final".
11. "2014 Pan Pacs - 4x200m Freestyle Relay Mens Final".
12. "2014 Pan Pacs - 400m Freestyle Mens Final".
13. "2014 Pan Pacs - 200m Backstroke Mens Final".
14. "2014 Pan Pacs - 200m Individual Medley Mens Final".
15. "Swimming Men's 200m Freestyle Final | 17th Asian Games Incheon 2014".
16. "Men's 100m Backstroke FINAL 2014 Asian Games".
17. "Swimming Men's 200m Individual Medley Final (Asian Record) | 17th Asian Games Incheon 2014".
18. "Men's 4x100m Freestyle Relay FINAL Asian Games 2014".
19. "Men's 400m Freestyle FINAL Asian Games 2014".
20. "Swimming Men's 400m Individual Medley Final |17th Asian Games Incheon 2014".
21. "Men's 200m Backstroke Final | 17th Asian Games Incheon 2014".
22. "Kosuke Hagino Named Most Valuable Player of Entire Asian Games". Swimming World Magazine. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
23. "Japan's swimmer Kosuke Hagino awarded Asiad MVP". China Daily. Retrieved 2014-10-04.
24. "Japanese swimmer Hagino wins Asian Games MVP award". Reuters Int. Retrieved Oct 4, 2014.
25. "KOSUKE HAGINO EARNS OVERALL ASIAN GAMES MVP AWARD WITH SEVEN MEDAL PERFORMANCE". swimswam.com. Retrieved 5 Oct 2014.
26. "Asian Games 2014: Japanese Swimmer Kosuke Hagino Named Most Valuable Player". New Delhi Television Limited (NDTV). Retrieved 4 October 2014.
27. "Japanese swimmer Kosuke Hagino awarded MVP of Incheon Asian Games". Xinhua Net. Retrieved 2014-10-04.
28. "Hagino honored as top athlete". The Japan Times. Retrieved 4 Oct 2014.
29. "Mayor Of Kosuke Hagino's Hometown Praises World Swimmer of the Year Choice". Swimming World Magazine. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
30. "2014 SWAMMY AWARDS: MALE ASIAN SWIMMER OF THE YEAR KOSUKE HAGINO". swimswam.com. Retrieved 17 Dec 2014.
31. "MALE SWIMMER OF THE YEAR: KOSUKE HAGINO, A MULTI-TALENT WITH A LOT TO SHOUT ABOUT". swimvortex.com. Retrieved 23 Dec 2014.
32. Lutz, Rachel (2016-08-06). "Kosuke Hagino wins Olympic gold in 400m individual medley, Chase Kalisz gets silver". NBC Olympics. NBC. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
33. Sutherland, James (2016-08-06). "KOSUKE HAGINO BREAKS ASIAN RECORD ON WAY TO GOLD MEDAL IN 400 IM". Swim Swam. Swim Swam Partners. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
34. "Kosuke Hagino wins silver in men's 200-meter individual medley". The Mainichi. THE MAINICHI NEWSPAPERS. 2016-08-12. Retrieved 2016-08-12.
35. Grace, Jeff (2016-08-11). "HAGINO AND WANG BECOME FIRST ASIAN MEN TO MEDAL IN THE 200 IM". Swim Swam. Swim Swam Partners. Retrieved 2016-08-12.
36. "Japan takes bronze in men's 4x200 freestyle relay; Phelps gets 21st Olympic gold". The Mainichi. THE MAINICHI NEWSPAPERS. 2016-08-10. Retrieved 2016-08-12.
37. "Kosuke Hagino Bio - SwimSwam". SwimSwam. Retrieved 2016-04-09.