This year’s ispo Cup is to be awarded to a team for the first time – Japan’s victorious Olympic volleyball squad of 1972.
The team became overnight heroes in their country following their exciting victory over East Germany in the final in Munich, which made them the first Asian men’s team to win Olympic gold.
Says the team’s chief coach and manager Yasutaka Matsudaira, now 77: “The unique feeling and the indescribable joy which we experienced when our long-sought dream of becoming Olympic gold medallist finally became reality will never fade. We still remember it today as if it were yesterday.
“Munich is a very special city for us, to which we are returning happily and full of joyful memories, similar to our Japanese home and birthplaces. Munich is also one of the most important and most emotional places in our lives and is extremely significant for us.”
The ispo Cup will be presented on July 8 during ispo Sport & Style. Matsudaira, along with Junko Morita, Seiji Oko, Kenji Kimura and Tetsuo Nishimoto, all members of the 1972 team, will receive the award.
Previous winners of the ispo Cup include Max Schmeling, Franz Beckenbauer, Eddy Merckx, Gerd Muller and Vitali Klitschko.
