At the age of seventy-one, Hiroshi Hoketsu A.M. ’68 is preparing for an unlikely return to the Olympic Games. Hoketsu, an equestrian sport rider, first represented his native Japan at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, where he finished 40th in show jumping. He gave up competition to pursue degrees in economics, but returned in 2008 to qualify for the Olympics in Beijing. Competing in dressage, an event where riders execute a series of tests that are judged for grace and execution, Hoketsu and his chestnut mare, Whisper, finished ninth in the team grand prix and 35th in individual competition. He has earned wide admiration for competing with athletes young enough to be his grandchildren. In Japan, he is called “The Hope of Old Men” and is a spokesperson for a health-food company. “If I feel that I am not progressing, that I am not as good as before, then I will quit [after London],” Hoketsu told the Associated Press in March. “But fortunately, I don’t feel like that. I feel I am still improving.”
