To the Hammer Born

If Olympic medals were given out on the basis of good genes, then Japanese hammer thrower Koji Murofushi would walk away with the gold right now. His father earned the title of "Asia's Man of Iron" while throwing the hammer for Japan in three Olympics; his mother was an Olympic javelin thrower for Romania. His sister Yuka is Japan's best hammer and discus thrower. And the 29-year-old Koji is the third-ranked hammer thrower in the world, a silver medallist in the 2001 world championships and one of Japan's best hopes for track-and-field glory at Athens in August. It's just the usual...

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