. He won the silver medal in the men's 1500m freestyle at the 1952 Summer Olympics

1952 Summer Olympics

The 1952 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Helsinki, Finland in 1952. Helsinki had been earlier given the 1940 Summer Olympics, which were cancelled due to World War II...

 in Helsinki, Finland. He broke the world record in the same event on August 16, 1949, clocking 18:35.7. However, that time was bettered the same day by compatriot Hironoshin Furuhashi

Hironoshin Furuhashi

was a Japanese freestyle swimmer. In 1948, he set world records in the 400 and 1,500 meter freestyles at the Japan national championships. Furuhashi and Japan were not allowed to compete at the 1948 Summer Olympics because of Japan's role in World War II....

 at the American Swimming Championships in Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

.

Biography

Born in 1928, Hashizume should have been at his peak for the 1948 Summer Olympics

1948 Summer Olympics

The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in London, England, United Kingdom. After a 12-year hiatus because of World War II, these were the first Summer Olympics since the 1936 Games in Berlin...

 in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, but Japan was not yet permitted back to the Olympics following the end of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Therefore he had to settle for breaking the world record at a time when he may also have won the Olympic Gold medal. At the time the world assembled in London for the fifteenth Olympiad, Japan held its own national championships of Olympic events. Hashizume swam the 1500m freestyle in 18 minutes, 37.8 seconds, faster than Jimmy McLane's 19 minutes, 18.5 seconds gold medal swim halfway around the world in London.

In the preliminary heat of the 1952 Summer Olympics, Hashizume established a new Olympic record of 18 minutes, 41 seconds to win the silver medal in the 1500m freestyle behind the USA's Ford Konno

Ford Konno

Ford Hiroshi Konno is a former freestyle swimmer from the United States, who swam at McKinley High School and the Ohio State University....

.

In 1987, Hashizume, a 1951 graduate from Nihon University Faculty of Law, was awarded Japan's prestigious Order of the Purple Ribbon "Shiju Hosho" – an order for a person meritorious in the field of art and science. In 1992 he was inducted as an honoree in the International Swimming Hall of Fame

International Swimming Hall of Fame

The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests serving as the central point for the study of the history of swimming in the United States and around...

 (ISHOF). He is a member of the Board of Education in Yokohama City, and Managing Director of the Hashizume Swimming School.