You’ll have to excuse me if today’s post seems a bit off. My mind is preoccupied with learning how to pronounce ‘Kekkon shite kuremasu ka’ properly ‘cuz I just found out Japanese hunk and Olympic Gold Medal winner Koji Murofushi trains but a forty-five minute drive from my house. I know, the outcome of Prop 8 is still up in the air and same sex marriage isn’t legal in California yet, nor is it I’m sure in Japan, but it’s the thought that counts. Besides, I couldn’t find a translation for, “I want to ride you hard and put you away wet.”

Koji, for those of you who are not familiar with him – which is fine by me ‘cuz I saw him first and already called dibbs – is the Beijing Games Gold Medalist in the hammer throw. Forget Thor, with features fit for the gods on Mount Olympus, Koji is a pure hunk, a world champion, and at the age of 36 not married – but has a video floating around of him at a gay bar in Nagayo. So if there is a god he might just play with balls other than those he wins medal with. And if all it takes is a medal to stir his interest that can be arranged.

The 6’ 3” stud is a rock star in Japan. Anything and everything he does makes the news. Endorsements keep flowing his way right along with medals and trophies. He signed on as a spokesman for FedEx and there even is an action figure of him in his FedEx uniform. And showing a complete understanding of what his fans want, he recently posed for a series of semi-nude photos for a book The Lonely King, 144 pages of pictures dedicated to his hotness (of which 0 can be found on the internet. Trust me I looked. So if anyone in Japan wants to make a real nice American a happy camper, scan those suckers and email them to me please!)

Koji competes in both the discus and hammer throw, though it is the latter that gains him the accolades and championship titles. In Japan that comes as no surprise. His father, Shigenobu, is known as the Iron Man of Asia and is an Olympic hammer thrower himself. Pops held the Japanese record in the hammer throw for 23 years until his son broke it, and Koji’s sister, Yuka , throws both hammer and discus too (she won the 2000 silver and 2005 bronze in the Asian Championships). And just to complete the family who competes together picture, Moms, Serafiuna, is a Romanian-born javelin thrower and was the European Junior champion in 1968, and Romanian senior champion in 1970. As well as being partially responsible for Koji’s good looks.

While throwing things on the field is a family affair, Shigenobu laid out some pretty big shoes for his son to fill. The last time the senior Murofushi set a new Japanese record was when he was 38-years-old. And Koji just became the oldest gold medalist at the World Championships at the age of 36. You’d think there’d be some serious father-son rivalry going on in the clan, but their respect and love for each other shines through. “I’ve been greatly influenced by my father, who is also an Olympian. I want to thank my father,” Murofushi says now, although he went through a rebellious phase in college. After watching his son throw at the World Championships last summer, Shigenobu told reporters, “I think he’s getting closer to the essence of what hammer throwing is. He throws the hammer like it’s very light.”

Standing next to his father, the younger Murofushi smiled and joked, “It’s not that light, you know.”

Shigenobu Murofushi, now 66-years-old, has been by his son’s side throughout his athletic career. During competitions, he always sits in the stands just behind the hammer throwing area. Many Japanese think that father and son worked extensively together, since Shigenobu was also a four-time Olympian hammer thrower who kept breaking his own Japanese records. But Shigenobu did not push young Koji, never teaching his son more than he felt was necessary. “I taught him the basics, but I let him think for himself the rest of the way,” Shigenobu says.

It appeared Shigenobu’s hands-off approach paid off when Koji won the gold medal for hammer throw at the 2004 Olympics. But that win was not without controversy. Throughout the competition in Athens, Koji was in second place. Getting his best mark in the final round, it appeared he’d won the silver medal. But Adrián Annus, (no, really, I didn’t make that name up) was called back for a second round of drug tests. He’s passed his initial tests both before and after the competition but after his training partner Róbert Fazekas was disqualified from the discus for failing his drug tests the officials asked for a new test from Annus. He refused and when the Olympic Committee had his tests reanalyzed it was revealed the samples had come from two different people. He was disqualified and Koji was awarded the gold medal.

Four years later at the Beijing Games the use of performance enhancing drugs again appeared to be what would move Koji up in the medal rankings. He finished in the fifth spot but the silver and bronze medalists, both from Belarus, were disqualified in December 2008 for testing positive for abnormal levels of testosterone. Their medals were then awarded to Koji and Krisztián Pars of Hungary. The Belarusians appealed the IOC’s decision and in June of 2010 the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that due to errors at the Chinese medical laboratory the disqualified Belarusians should get their original medals back.

Since winning the gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, Murofushi has been plagued with back and related problems, which caused him to miss the 2005 and 2009 world championships. After years of steady improvement and a stream of medal wins, he only finished sixth in 2007 in Osaka and, after the give and take of medals, lost out at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 too.

But at the 2009 Japanese Championships, Murofushi retained his national title, winning his fifteenth consecutive championships at that event. He increased his title total again the following year and though he limited his season to only one other competition besides the Japan Championship in 2011, he won the national title again, extending his record run to 17 consecutive titles.

Koji’s gold medal win at the 13th IAAF World Athletics Championships, held in South Korea last August, makes him Japan’s first three-time medalist and a candidate for a second Olympic gold in this year’s London Games and, at the age of 36, the oldest man to win a world title in the men’s hammer throw.

For Murofushi, the gold medal was the culmination of a detailed plan put together by him and Swedish coach Tore Gustafsson that ensured he would be in peak condition coming into the World Championships at Daegu.

“After 30 years old, you cannot push every competition,” said the newly crowned world champion. “Maybe it’s my problem, …maybe for everyone, but to keep all the competition at the top level is almost impossible.”

His age continues to be a factor and to prepare for the London Games, Koji is training with Gustafsson and two U.S.-based trainers who are helping make sure his 37-year-old body is a finely tuned machine. Physical trainer Masaya Sakihana’s focus is on core muscle maintenance. Working with Murofushi since 2009, when Sakihana first met Koji, he says he believed the right side of Murofushi’s body was weak. “I think that was because throwing the hammer involves throwing from one side all the time,” Sakihana says.

Sakihana focused on strengthening Murofushi’s right gluteal muscles (something I’d like to focus on myself). He also trained Murofushi in proper breathing methods. There is a plan for helping Murofushi do his best at the Olympics,” Sakihana says. “It’s our job to implement that strategy.”

While his trainers focus on the physical, Koji is attuned to the metaphysical. “Tools have spirits and we can feel them through touch,” he says. “I brush my hammer with soap every day. I even experimented with different brands of soaps and brushes to see which were the best for it. How could I just leave it there, full of dirt?”

And at times Koji sounds like he channels Chevy Chase, in this case by being one with a ball that for some odd reason is called a hammer. “I talk to the hammer all the time,” he says. “Hey, buddy, good job! We made it. We worked really hard to get here. Now can you give me some power, please? I’ll do my best, too. It supports me a lot. If my condition is bad, it gives me the extra strength I need.”

The still single hunk says he’s not a macho guy. “I’m afraid of everything!” he says jokingly but then quickly clarifies: “But I am sensitive.” Some fans have noticed that air of sensitivity about Koji and have equated it with his being gay, noting that he’s never been known to be in a relationship – though he does have two cats – and that his current George Micheals getting whammed look totally fits what the Japanese expect of a gay bear. And then there is the YouTube video of Koji out for a night of fun at a gay bar in Nagoya, the Elephant’s nest, from back in 2008.

Off the field – and out of gay bars too – you immediately sense Koji’s passion for his sport, for his family, and for his country. He made several visits to the earthquake devastated coast of Japan last year, offering his moral support to the victims and families struggling to cope with the aftermath of the quake and nuclear power plant melt-down. The flag he held aloft after winning his gold medal at the World Championships bore inscriptions from students from the area whom he had visited and spent time with last year. And his sense of community spills over to include an Olympic tie-in too.

Koji has been keeping the Olympic legacy alive at the Tokyo National Stadium by polishing the Olympic cauldron. Murofushi hopes to see the Games awarded back to Tokyo and the fire ablaze again in its Olympic cauldron. Last year he learned that the son of Mannosuke Suzuki, creator of the 1964 cauldron, had passed away so he volunteered to take up the cause. The late son of the creator had been polishing the cauldron annually to maintain his father’s contribution to the 1964 Games.

“I was deeply moved by the story of a family carrying the Olympic legacy from generation to generation. So I decided to offer my time to keep the tradition alive,” says Koji, a supporter of the Tokyo 2016 Olympics host city bid. “Tokyo has been profoundly shaped by the Olympic Games, so it will be an honor to have a direct role in keeping the shine on the cauldron as well as the Olympic legacy.”

One of the key elements of the Tokyo 2016 plan was to reutilize many of the 1964 venues celebrating the Japanese Olympic legacy and to keep the bid plan more sustainable. Bid CEO Dr. Ichiro Kono said: “Koji Murofushi’s inspiring action shows how athletes – the lifeblood of the Olympic movement – make such special contributions to the Olympic legacy.”

With his recent world champion title, it is expected that Koji will be the gold medal winner at the London Games. Koji is humble about his chances. “I know that I give 100 percent, so whether I get a medal or not, the gold is already inside of me,” he says.

The hammer throw is not one of the crowd pleasing events at the Olympics. The competition is short, the rounds quick. But the event will be televised this year, and I’ll be glued to the screen, undoubtedly along with most of the nation of Japan. In the meantime I need to get my ass down to San Jose and meet Koji in person. On the drive I’ll keep practicing my new mantra, my latest linguistic plea to use when I meet him, ““Boku o sekai-ichi shiawase na otoko ni shite.”

[‘The XXX Games’ are a series of posts about hot Olympians, gay competitors – both present and past – and general articles about the 2012 London Olympics of interest to gay men. So, yeah, lots of hot male eye candy. Click the XXX Games graphic above for additional news, stories, and pictures.]