Record of a Marathon Runner (1963)

This was a sponsored documentary film by director Kazuo Kuroki of Japan. This highly artistic film focused entirely on Japanese marathon runner Kenji Kimihara. Kimihara finished eighth in the 1964 Olympic marathon with a time of 2:19:49. He had previously won the Japanese trials in 2:17:11 on April 12th of that year. He competed in a total of three Olympic marathons in all (finishing 2nd in 1968, and 5th in 1972) and he won 9 of 18 marathons prior to the Mexico City Games, including the Boston Marathon in 1966. Kimihara’s personal best was 2:13:25.