Kazuhiro Koshi

is a Japanese skeleton racer who has competed since 1991. Competing in three Winter Olympics, he earned his best finish of eighth in the men's skeleton event at Salt Lake City in 2002. He was the oldest member of the Japanese team at the 2010 Winter Olympics and, because of this, was referred to in media reports as, "the hope of the middle class."

Athletic career Originally a shot putter, Koshi's first attempt at sliding sports fell short when he failed to make the Japanese bobsleigh team for the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France. He later took up skeleton, a new sport in Japan, and became the first Japanese athlete to win a World Cup event in the sport at Nagano in 1999.

After skeleton was added to the Olympic roster in 2002 in Salt Lake City, Utah for the first time in 54 years, Koshi qualified and placed eighth. He made the Japanese team again for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, placing 11th. Continuing to compete internationally at an age when many Olympic athletes retire from competition, Koshi gained a measure of fame at home, and was referred to in the media as, "the hope of the middle-aged."