Pole vault champion Shuhei Nishida was born on March 21, 1910 in Wakayama, Japan. Nishida first established himself in the world of competitive sports at both the Student World Championships and International University Games events: He won a silver medal in the men's pole vault in 1928 and gold medals in the same category in 1930 and 1935. Moreover, Shuhei not only won the pole vault at the Far East Championships in Tokyo, Japan in 1930, but also won the silver medal in the men's pole vault at both the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, California and the 1936 Olympic games held in Berlin, Germany. Nishida went on to win a bronze medal at age 41 in the men's pole vault at the 1951 Asian Games in New Delhi, India. Shuhei majored in engineering at Waseda University in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan and, following graduation from college, worked for the Hitachi Group. In addition, Nishida continued to serve as an international referee at sports events and was appointed president of the Japanese Athletics Federation in 1959 before eventually becoming Honorary Vice President and even was a member of the Japanese Olympic Committee. He was awarded the Olympic Order in Silver in 1989. Shuhei died at age 87 of heart failure on April 13, 1997 in Tokyo, Japan. Show less «