My recollections of Tokyo Summer Olympic Games

When I was a high school student, the first Olympic games in the Asian countries were held in Tokyo in 1964.

At that time I temporarily lived in Shibuya, because my house in Koenji was rebuilt.In the neighborhood many modern buildings popped up along the Aoyama-Street.

The national stadium was located in Sendagaya and the athletes' village in Yoyogi.
The athletes's village was about 3 kilometer away from my temporal house in Shibuya.

The opening ceremony was held on October the 10th. It was the typical beautiful autumn day.
I watched it on TV. When the Japanese athletes entered the stadium and marched with red jackets, I was so excited.

I recall visiting athletes' village from time to time. Wow, there were hundreds of Olympic athletes going back and forth.

Immediately I wanted to try my English out on them.
I spoke to a tall guy in the crowd and asked him,

"Excuse me, could I have your autograph, please?"

He smiled at me and answered, "Yes, of course!"
He wrote down his name on my notebook. He was Jed Graef.
I said, "Thank you!"

A few days later I read an article in Tokyo Newspaper. To my surprise, the tall American won the gold medal,

He turned out to be a back-swimmer in the 200 meter-race.