Fujiya Matsumoto (松本 富士也; 25 March 1932 – 12 March 2022) was a Japanese sailor and sailing administrator. He is documented in Olympic and sailing-sport records as an Olympic competitor and as a long-serving official in Japanese and international yachting organizations.
Early life and competitive career
Matsumoto was born in Numazu, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. He joined the sailing club at Waseda University in Tokyo, and in 1956 he won the All Japan Snipe Championship. He went on to compete in the All-Japan Corporate Championships and at the Snipe World Championships. According to the Snipe Class International Racing Association (SCIRA), he was the first Japanese sailor to compete in a Snipe World Championship, sailing together with Roy Yamaguchi.
Olympic participation
Matsumoto represented Japan at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. He competed in the 5.5 Metre (three-person keelboat) event as helmsman, crewed by Masao Yoshida and Takeshi Hagiwara, sailing a boat named Roy. The Japanese entry finished 14th in the event. He later served as manager of the Japanese sailing teams at the 1980 Moscow and 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
Administrative career
Matsumoto held a number of positions in sailing administration. He served as director of the Japan Yachting Association and as vice-president of the Japan Sailing Federation, and was chairman of the Enoshima Yacht Club. Internationally, he was the first Japanese person to serve as Commodore of SCIRA (1992). He was associated with the holding of major Snipe events in Japan, including the 1986 Western Hemisphere and Orient Championship at Enoshima and the 1989 World Championship at Karatsu. He is also credited with being responsible for the creation of the Snipe Women's World Championship, the first edition of which was held in Yokohama in 1994 as part of a three-part world championship series hosted by Japan. In 2022 he was inducted into the Snipe Hall of Fame.
Death
Matsumoto died on 12 March 2022, aged 89, survived by his wife Motoko and two children.
References
Information on Matsumoto is available from Olympedia, the official International Olympic Committee athlete database, SCIRA (SnipeToday), and Wikipedia entries in English, German, and Spanish. Minor discrepancies appear in some secondary sources—for example, at least one genealogy-oriented database lists his birth year as 1922—but the preponderance of sports-reference sources give 25 March 1932, which is the date used here.
