Living the Olympic spirit

Ormondian Jim Howden (1953) believed that the Olympic Games should transcend political differences and acted accordingly.

When competing in the Melbourne Games in 1956 as part of the Australian men’s VIII rowing crew, Howden noticed that Japanese athletes were socially isolated in the athlete’s village. This might have been because of other athletes’ feelings about World War II. In the spirit of friendship, Howden struck up a conversation with Yoshiki Hiki, a member of the Japanese rowing crew. Despite not having a common language, the pair became fast friends.

After the games the rowers lost touch and Jim Howden went on to be a solicitor and county court judge. It was only twenty-six years later that they were able to reconnect when Jim’s son Mark (1981) went to Tokyo on an intervarsity rowing trip. He took with him a letter to Yoshiki Hiki and within hours of arriving in Japan had an invitation to stay with Hiki and his family, where he found a photo of the Olympic friends on the mantlepiece. Afterwards, the families stayed in contact, the Hikis visiting Australia several times and even helping arrange a reunion of the Japanese crew in Australia. As Mark Howden reflected: ‘My father’s original gesture was an uncommon act at the time which personified the Olympic spirit.’