While Koji Murofushi was increasing the family haul, another Japanese with the first same name, Koji, came within a whisker of a sprinting landmark. Koji Ito clocked 10.00 seconds and is bidding to become the first non-black sprinter to go under 10 seconds.

Japan upstaged China on the first day as they took three of the five gold available. Watched by his delighted father who was in the stands, Koji, who was second at the Asian Championships, hurled the chained ball to 78.57 metres, six metres more than the previous Games mark. Uzbek Abduvaliev gotthe silver with 77.14m.

In the post-event interview, Koji, through an interpreter said, "My father won this event five times between 1970 and 1986 and it was in Bangkok that he won his first gold. He told me to simply do my best and I am surprised because I hadn't expected to produce such a throw at the end of a tiring season."

The senior Murofushi standing close-by said, "It is a good win because he defeated an Olympic and double World Champion. I think his best is yet to come and it will come when he is around 30."

No white athlete nor Asian athlete has ever run the 100 metres in under 10 seconds. Valery Borzov, who clocked 10.00 seconds while wining the gold in 1972 at Munich came closest to it, and this afternoon Japan's Koji Ito came within a whisker of becoming the first Asian to go under 10 seconds. In the semi-final, the 28-year-old Ito, who shares the Asian record of 10.08 seconds with another Japanese Nobuhara Asahara, Ito stopped the clock at 10 seconds. The trackside clock showed 9.99seconds, but the time was later corrected to 10.00 seconds.

That smashed the old Games record of 10.18 seconds by Talal Mansoor, who watched the race from the stands. He is here as a coach of the Qatari team.