Koji Murofushi secured a permanent place in the annals of track and field by capturing the men¡¯s hammer throw gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics and the bronze eight years later at the London Summer Games.

Away from his own athletic competitions, Murofushi has embraced MLB legend Roberto Clemente¡¯s defining ideals: ¡°Any time you have an opportunity to make a difference in this world and you don¡¯t, then you are wasting your time on Earth.¡±

The 40-year-old Murofushi also has a visible role as the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee¡¯s sports director, including interacting with the next generation of potential Olympians. And on Wednesday, in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, he took part in a ceremony to observe the fourth anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Murofushi met with local high school and junior high school students, and they helped him clean the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Cauldron.

Because demolition work is underway at National Stadium, the cauldron is now on display in Ishinomaki at a public park.

¡°When the Olympic Cauldron was in the National Stadium in Tokyo, I used to clean it once a year and it became a kind of tradition,¡± Murofushi said in a statement. ¡°With it currently being in Tohoku, this year it is even more important for me to keep the tradition alive.¡±

In Tohoku, the 14th Youth Leadership Camp is being cohosted by the U.N. Office on Sport for Development and Peace and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The camp includes 30 individuals from 17 countries, according to a Tokyo 2020 press release issued on Wednesday, ¡°to share their own experiences with local communities and it will offer training on how to use sport as a rehabilitation tool in areas affected by natural disasters.¡±

¡°This is a very special event for us, as it will remember the terrible disaster that struck this area four years ago and left the local area in need of redevelopment,¡± said Wilfried Lemke, U.N. special adviser on Sport for Development and Peace.

¡°Sport has been instrumental in the regeneration of this community, and through the Youth Leadership Camp, we plan to demonstrate how sport is extremely effective at addressing certain social issues that are related to post natural disaster communities.¡±

Murofushi agreed that these ongoing activities are significant.

¡°I hope all these collective efforts will inspire people of all ages and demonstrate the power of sport to act as a force for positive change,¡± Murofushi said. ¡°I believe that over the last four years we have already seen the important role that sport can play in society. This is this inspiration we want to share in Tokyo in 2020.¡±