Mahau Camargo Suguimati (born November 13, 1984, in
São Miguel do Araguaia,
Goiás) is a Brazilian track hurdler of Japanese ancestry.[1][2] Since the age of eight, Suguimati had lived and studied for sixteen years in
Niiza,
Saitama Prefecture,
Japan. Suguimati also attended schools around the prefecture, where he discovered his natural ability and talent of running and hurdling, under his personal coach and trainer Atsushi Hishinuma.[3] He made his international debut, and represented his birth nation
Brazil at the
2007 Pan American Games in
Rio de Janeiro, where he finished seventh in the final of the
400 m hurdles, with his personal best time of 49.63 seconds.[4]
Suguimati qualified for the
2008 Summer Olympics in
Beijing, after claiming the gold medal from the Brazil Trophy Box in
Sao Paulo, with an A-standard time of 49.15 seconds.[5] He ran in the first heat of the
men's 400 m hurdles, against six other athletes, including
Bershawn Jackson of the United States, who eventually won the bronze medal in the final. He finished the race in third place by a quarter second margin (0.25) behind Jackson, and twenty-one hundredths of a second behind South Africa's
Pieter de Villiers, with a time of 49.45 seconds. Suguimati qualified directly for the next round, as he secured the last mandatory place from the first heat.[6] In the semi-final round, Suguimati, however, felt short in his bid to advance into the final round, when he placed seventh in the second heat, outside his personal best of 50.16 seconds.[7]
At the
2011 Pan American Games in
Guadalajara, Mexico, Suguimati missed out of the medal podium, when he finished fifth in the final of the
men's 400 m hurdles, by two hundredths of a second faster from his first personal best, with a time of 49.61 seconds.