Few can strike the right balance between academics and sport. Fewer can achieve distinction in both at the highest level. Still fewer can win a dozen Olympic medals and go on to become a professor at a reputed university.
Sawao Kato did that in admirable fashion. After taking his final bow at the Montreal Olympics in 1976, he went back to academics. He taught at the University of Tsukuba, one of the most respected educational institutions in Japan.
It was a visit to the gymnastics arena as a school student that proved the turning point of his life. Brilliant in studies, sport hadn’t excited him much till then. The young Sawao fell in love with gymnastics. He showed exceptional skills on the horizontal bar before mastering the other apparatus as well. He made his Olympic debut in Mexico in 1968 in style, winning three gold medals, including the prestigious individual all-around one. He took home four medals in all.
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Four years later in Munich, he did even better, winning five medals, three of them gold. He also helped Japan retain the team gold for the fifth year in a row.
Kato’s contribution to making Japan the most dominant force in world gymnastics in the 1960s and 70s cannot be overstated. Neither can his place among the Olympic legends be disputed.
Of the 12 medals he won, eight were gold. No male gymnast has won as many gold medals.
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That is why this professor is widely regarded as one of the greatest Olympians in history.