Toru Terasawa

Tōru Terasawa (Japanese寺 沢 彻, Terasawa Tōru, born January 4, 1935 in Toyama prefecture ) is a former Japanese marathon runners.

In 1962 he won the Fukuoka Marathon in Japanese record time of 2:16:19 h, and the following year he broke the Beppu - Oita Marathon with 2:15:16 hours, the world record of Abebe Bikila. In 1964, he won again in Oita and was regarded as one of the favorites in the marathon of the Olympic Games in Tokyo, but in which he came only to 15th place, while Abebe Bikila defended his title in Rome and another world record of 2:12 12 hours running.

In December of the same year Terasawa improved with a win in Fukuoka its Japanese record at 2:14:49. Two more records reach him at his victories in Oita in 1965 and 1966 with 2:14:38 and 2:14:35. In 1965, he scored ( on a point- to-point route that does not meet today's demands for a record ) in the Polytechnic Marathon his personal time of 2:13:41 in second behind his compatriot Morio Shigematsu, with the 2:12 00 was faster than Bikila in Tokyo.

1966 Terasawa third in the Boston Marathon.

The Japanese shoe manufacturer Onitsuka Kihachiro ( from whose company the present company Asics has emerged ) Terasawa helped to design running shoes that allow the formation of bubbles (then a major problem for long-distance runners ) was prevented.