Veteran Japanese rider returns to Olympics after 44 years

After a 44-year break from the Olympic Games 66-year old Hiroshi Hoketsu is set to become Japan’s oldest ever Olympian.

Mr Hoketsu, who will turn 67 next month, will be competing in the team dressage event at this year’s Beijing Olympic Games.

As a member of Japan’s equestrian team, Mr Hoketsu last competed at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, where he finished 40th in the show jumping. In 1984 he was a reserve at the Los Angeles Olympics but was never called upon.

Mr Hoketsu will now surpass the previous age record for Japan’s oldest Olympian, set by Kikuko Inoue who represented her country in equestrianism at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul at the age of 63.

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