Katō Sawao biography
Katō Sawao, (born October 11, 1946, Niigata prefecture, Japan), Japanese gymnast, who gained eight Olympic gold medals as a member of the Japanese crew that dominated males’s gymnastics in the course of the Nineteen Sixties and ’70s.
Katō attended the Tokyo University of Education (now University of Tsukuba). At the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, he gained a gold medal within the mixed workouts and shared a gold as a member of the Japanese crew. In addition, he gained the gold medal within the flooring train and gained a bronze within the rings. At the 1972 Games in Munich, Katō gained his second consecutive gold within the mixed occasion, in addition to a crew gold, a person gold within the parallel bars, and particular person silver medals within the pommel horse and horizontal bars. Katō excelled on the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, main the Japanese crew to its fifth consecutive gold medal. He additionally gained a person gold medal within the parallel bars and a silver within the particular person mixed.
Katō was famend for his self-discipline and dedication to the game. He later taught on the University of Tsukuba, the place he turned professor emeritus in 2010. In addition, he was a coach, and his scholar Tanaka Hikaru gained the 1994 Japanese nationwide championship. Katō was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2001.