Tommy Kono biography
Tommy Kono, byname of Tamio Kono, (born June 27, 1930, Sacramento, California, U.S.—died April 24, 2016, Honolulu, Hawaii), American weightlifter who received Olympic and world championship medals in three totally different weight divisions.
Kono and his mother and father have been among the many Japanese Americans interned at Tule Lake, California, throughout World War II. Kono had bronchial asthma as a toddler, however his well being improved within the dry desert air. He additionally started a weightlifting routine, and by 1952 he was a mainstay of the U.S. nationwide workforce. He was notably helpful to the workforce due to his clutch performances and his capacity to extend and reduce physique weight with out important lack of energy, thus enabling him to compete in a number of weight lessons.
In 1952, as a light-weight (weight restrict 67.5 kg [149 pounds]), Kono received a nationwide title and a gold medal on the Olympic Games held in Helsinki, Finland. As a middleweight (weight restrict 75 kg [165 pounds]), he took 4 nationwide titles (1953, 1958–60), a Pan American title (1959), 4 world titles (1953, 1957–59), and a silver medal on the Rome Olympics (1960). As a light-weight heavyweight (weight restrict 82.5 kg [182 pounds]), he earned six nationwide titles (1954–55, 1957, 1961–63), two Pan American titles (1955, 1963), two world titles (1954–55), and an Olympic gold medal in Melbourne, Australia (1956). He additionally set a world file as a center heavyweight (weight restrict 90 kg [198 pounds]). In the course of profitable these championships, Kono set 37 American, 8 Pan American, 7 Olympic, and 26 world information. He is the one weightlifter to set world information in 4 separate weight divisions.
Though recognized mainly as a weightlifter, Kono additionally received physique (bodybuilding) titles: Mr. World in 1954 and Mr. Universe in 1955, 1957, and 1961. He served as nationwide weightlifting coach for Mexico, West Germany, and the United States for the 1968, 1972, and 1976 Olympics, respectively, and from 1987 to 1989 he coached the U.S. Women’s World Championship workforce. Kono was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame and the International Weightlifting Hall of Fame. He was rated the best weightlifter of all time in a ballot performed underneath the auspices of the International Weightlifting Federation in 1982.