Muroufushi Shigenobu and Koji light cauldron together at opening ceremony

Father a five-time Asian Games champion, son an Olympic champion — Japan's hammer legends united

Muroufushi Koji, the 2004 Athens Olympics hammer throw medalist, and his father Muroufushi Shigenobu carry the torch during the final relay at the opening ceremony of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games at Mizuho Park Athletics Stadium in Nagoya, Japan, on Saturday. [Yonhap]
Muroufushi Koji, the 2004 Athens Olympics hammer throw medalist, and his father Muroufushi Shigenobu carry the torch during the final relay at the opening ceremony of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games at Mizuho Park Athletics Stadium in Nagoya, Japan, on Saturday. [Yonhap]

The flame marking the start of the 20th Summer Asian Games was lit by Japan's most celebrated father-son duo in hammer throwing.

At the opening ceremony of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Saturday, Muroufushi Shigenobu — a five-time consecutive Asian Games hammer throw champion — and his son Muroufushi Koji, the 2004 Athens Olympics gold medalist, served as the final torchbearers and together lit the cauldron.

Muroufushi Shigenobu won five consecutive Asian Games gold medals in the hammer throw from the 1970 Bangkok Games through the 1986 Seoul Games, while Muroufushi Koji claimed the hammer throw title at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Koji is also a hammer throw hero in his own right at the Asian Games, having won back-to-back gold medals at the 1998 Bangkok and 2002 Busan editions.

The torch had been relayed across Aichi Prefecture since last month before completing its final leg at the venue and igniting a cauldron designed in the shape of a heart and a golden shachihoko — a mythical creature with a tiger's head and a fish's body, regarded as the guardian of Nagoya Castle.

Several Japanese sports stars joined the Muroufushi pair for the final relay inside the venue. The torch passed first to Fujinami Akari, a women's wrestling gold medalist at the 2024 Paris Olympics, then to Kitajima Kosuke, a four-time Olympic swimming gold medalist, and on to Ito Koji, who swept three track and field titles at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games.

After the group ran around the heart-shaped main stage, Takahashi Ayaka — a women's doubles badminton gold medalist at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics — stepped onto the stage, and Muroufushi Koji received the torch at center.

As Koji walked toward the cauldron and stood at the foot of the steps, his father Muroufushi Shigenobu appeared beside him. The two carried the torch together up the stairs and lit the base of the cauldron. Red lighting illuminated the moment of ignition, and flames began to rise from the cauldron.


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