Kōji Kojima

Kōji Kojima (小島 孝治, Kojima Kōji; June 26, 1930 – May 27, 2014^[1]) was a Japanese Olympic volleyball coach. He led the Japanese Olympic women's volleyball team to a silver medal at the 1972 Summer Olympic Games in Munich.^[2]

Kojima became the coach of the Japanese Olympic team in 1970, succeeding Hirobumi Daimatsu, whose women's team had won a gold medal at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.^[2] Under Kojima, Japan's women's volleyball team won silver in 1972, losing to the Soviet Union in a match played in the aftermath of the Munich massacre.^[2]

His team was favored to win gold in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, but Japan boycotted the games following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.^[2] Kojima later became the general director for the Japanese athletes at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.^[2]

Koji Kojima died at a hospital from pneumonia on May 27, 2014, at the age of 83.^[2]