Daichi Suzuki

Daichi Suzuki, Ph.D (Medical Science) (鈴木大地, Suzuki Daichi?) (born March 10, 1967 in Narashino, Chiba, Japan) is a retired Japanese backstroke swimmer. He won a gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.

Suzuki began swimming at the age of 7. In Junior High School, his coach identified his potential as a backstroker, but recommended that he swim all four strokes to develop a balanced physique. Thus, a long-term strategy to develop Suzuki was begun at a very early age. He placed third in the 400 m individual medley at the national Junior High School Championships in 1981. In 1982, he began to focus exclusively on the backstroke.

By 1984, Suzuki had become a national champion backstroker. Looking to further his career at the international level, he learned about the submarine dolphin kick Jesse Vassallo (one of the top backstroker in the late 1970s) was performing, and realized he could implement the same technique during his race. Suzuki combined his creativity and audacity together with sprinkling suggestions provided by Vassallo, and began work on developing a backstroke start that would cover the first 25 meters entirely underwater.

At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, Suzuki unveiled the new underwater tactic. He proved to be the fastest in the world for the first 25 m, but it did not draw much attention as he barely ranked in the top 25 worldwide and was unsuccessful in making the finals in 100 m backstroke. However, the tactic gained more attention when Suzuki again employed it in the 400 m medley relay, in which Japan made the finals. Some criticized his tactic as silly leaving the swimmer in oxygen debt, causing the swimmer to fall off in the latter part of the race.

By 1986, Suzuki was one of the top ten 100 m backstrokers in the world. At the 1987 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, he blasted out to a lead with his underwater dolphin kicks in the 100 m backstroke but faded to a second place finish. While his underwater dolphin kick strategy was beginning to draw more attention as a viable strategic tool, it had its share of doubters.

Another believer of the underwater dolphin kick included David Berkoff of the United States. He combined thirty miles of running each week with rigorous pool workouts to develop his underwater dolphin kicks. Berkoff was planning on extending his dolphin kick to 35 m from the start and 15 m from the turn. At the American Olympic Trials in 1988, Berkoff broke the world record in 100 m backstroke being underwater for the first 35 m and 15 m from the turn, exactly half the racing distance.

In 1987, Suzuki and David Berkoff competed at the World University Games in Zagreb. Suzuki beat Berkoff and won the gold in the 100 and 200 m backstroke. Suzuki set the world’s fastest time for that season, although his time was beaten later and he came in third overall in the season. In winter 1988, Suzuki again competed against Berkoff at the World Cup Series in Bonn, where they conducted a 50 m race in a 25 m pool. At that time, Suzuki defeated Berkoff and also set a world record. Following his success, particularly in his sprint, he believed that he would be able to win the medal at the Olympics.

Berkoff was the leading contender to win gold medal during 100 m backstroke at the 1988 Summer Olympics, and then earned a prohibitive favorite after re-setting the world record in the prelims. In the finals, everyone was focused on how much Berkoff would beat his world record due to his underwater dolphin kick. However, in a major upset, Berkoff was beaten and Suzuki won the gold medal. This was not as surprising to some swimming authorities, who felt that Suzuki’s victory over Berkoff in the finals at the World University Games in 1987 and the World Cup Series in 1988 gave him a mental edge.

Suzuki, who four years prior introduced the underwater dolphin kicks to the world by being submerged for 25 m, won the race by matching Berkoff underwater implementing his "Vasallo kicks" for 30 m, 5 m beyond his normal underwater distance, for the only time in his career. Since Suzuki and Berkoff's tale was broadcasted around the globe, the floodgates were open and the swimmers around the world rushed to apply the same underwater strategy during their races.

Japan’s team has performed very well at the 1992, 2000, 2004, 2008 games, and many Japanese attribute an overall change in the confidence of their swimmers to Suzuki’s victory at Seoul.

At the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, Mark Tewksbury of Canada, who five years prior stated his dislike for swimming underwaters won the gold medal in 100 m backstroke by implementing the same underwater dolphin kick for 25 m from the start and 15 m from the turn.

The theoretical principle was quite simple. If the speed generated through the underwater dolphin kick is faster than the speed generated during a backstroke lap on the surface of the water, the underwater dolphin kick would become the standard and preferred method of swimming this race – assuming the swimmer had the lung capacity to hold his/her breath. It did not take long for some swimmers to catch on. Soon other swimmers would improve their swimming and swimming backstroke soon became faster than swimming butterfly.

After his retirement, Suzuki studied at Juntendo University Graduate School where he earned his Ph.D in researches and analysis of water exercise, lifestyle, habit and health conditions. Suzuki is the second Japanese Olympic gold medalist that earned a Ph.D.

Regarding his international experiences, he was sent by his school as a visiting researcher to the University of Colorado at Boulder, and then again was also dispatched to Harvard University varsity swim team as a guest coach by the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) before he went back to Juntendo University Graduate School. He is currently a head coach of the varsity swimming team of his school.

He also was a committee member of the JOC Athlete Committee and executive member of the World Olympians Association (WOA).

He is executive member of Japan Olympians Association, and a committee member of the World Anti-Doping Agency Athlete Committee.

In 2009, he was elected as a board member of Japan Swimming Federation to be in charge of open water swimming, lifelong sports, and traditional Japanese swim methods. In 2011, he became an executive member of Japan Swimming Federation.

He often appears on nation-wide TV and radio programs in Japan as a commentator for sports. He has also published several books about swimming, sports science, and health.