Tommy Kono is an American Olympic weightlifter and Olympic gold medalist. Kono was ranked in the top 10 in America for heavyweights in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, and he was ranked No. 1 from 1956 to 1966. He is one of only five athletes (along with Larisa Latynina, Paavo Nurmi, Tesáre Špilak, Jackie Joyner-Kersee) to win a total of eight Olympic medals.
Tommy kono CAREER-
Kono won his first Olympic medal – a bronze in 1952 – and then won the silver in 1956. He took gold in 1960 and 1964, along with a silver medal in 1968. Those four medals won at the Olympics are more than any other weightlifter in history. Kono also won a silver medal at the 1956 World Championships, and finished third at the 1962 World Championships.
The Fédération Internationale Haltérophile et Culturiste Mr. Universe titles were won by Kono in 1954, 1955, 1957, and 1961. Kono was also a successful bodybuilder. Following his retirement, he started coaching, first taking on the weightlifting teams of Mexico in 1968 and West Germany in 1972, before taking over as head coach of the American Olympic weightlifting team in 1976.
His career got sidetracked by a near-fatal car accident on January 10, 1965. He was in a coma for 12 days and spent four months in the hospital. He had to learn how to walk and talk again. He was not the same athlete he had been before he almost died. After the accident, he never regained his form, retiring in 1969.
ACCOLADES-
Kono is known for his powerful looking smooth lifts even though he never moved much weight in the air during those years at the top of his sport. He trained in California with his brother George, who was also a world class lifter, winning the bronze in 1960. Tommy won his last US national title in 1967 and the next year became the first person from outside Europe and the former USSR to be elected to the International Weightlifting Federation Hall of Fame.
After retiring from weightlifting, Kono became an actor, most notable for appearing in The Green Hornet television series as Kato. He also appeared in 1977 film “The China Syndrome”.
Kono was inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame in 1974. He was inducted into the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1978. He was named to the USA Weightlifting Hall of Fame on May 18, 1985.
Tommy kono Early Life-
Kono, who was of Japanese descent, was born on January 3, 1936 in Sacramento, California. He is the brother of author George Kono and uncle of restaurateur Alan Wong.
His family, who were of Japanese descent, were interned at the Tule Lake internment camp in 1942 as a result of the promulgation of Executive Order 9066 during World War II. Kono had asthma as a child but it was helped by the desert air. It was during the relocation that Kono was introduced to neighborly weightlifting by Gotoh, Toda, and Bob Nakanishi, as well as Noboru “Dave” Shimoda, a member of the Tule Lake weightlifting and bodybuilding club and the brother of actor Yuki Shimoda. They were freed after three and a half years, and Kono graduated from Sacramento High School. Later, while attending Sacramento Junior College, he worked for the California Department of Motor Vehicles.
When he was enlisted in the American Army in 1950 as a cook, Kono was kept in the country during the Korean War because of his potential for the Olympics.
Kono holds the distinction of being the only person to achieve all four Olympic weightlifting gold medals – 56-60kg along with a silver and a bronze medal in consecutive Olympics. He is also the only person to win more than four Olympic medals in weightlifting, winning 4 total (8 medals overall).
He holds a PhD in Physical Education from Stanford University.
Regarding his height, Kono has said: “My shortcoming is that I am too tall for the weight classes. At first, I used to be a 220-pound lifter. On the knee lift, I was able to carry 220 pounds in one hand, but when I got to heavyweight class, because of my weight and ease of lifting it, my lifting ability declined. Later, through the years, I trained until my hands became so strong. As a result, I was able to lift 286 pounds in the snatch and 291 pounds in the clean and jerk. In order to be competitive, I had to reduce my size and weight. Also, because of my height, I suffered injuries.”
Tommy kono Awards
Along with winning championships in bodybuilding and weightlifting, Kono was a finalist for the James E. Sullivan Award, which is given annually to the best amateur athlete in the United States, eight times. In 1978, he was one of the inaugural inductees into the Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame. Kono was inducted into the US Olympic Hall of Fame and awarded the Association of Oldetime Barbell and Strongmen’s Highest Achievement Award in 1990. In 1993, he was chosen for induction into the International Weightlifting Federation Hall of Fame. Kono received the title of “Lifter of the Century” from the International Weightlifting Federation in 2005.
Portrayals
Kono made an appearance on August 6, 1959, in Universal Newsreel volume 32, number 63. In York, Pennsylvania, at 37 West Philadelphia Street, there is a mural that includes a picture of him. 2000 saw the completion of this mural.
The summer 2016 documentary “Arnold Knows Me: The Tommy Kono Story” included a section on Kono’s life. After premiering on KVIE (PBS) Sacramento, the movie was later broadcast in more than 50 (PBS-affiliated) markets across the nation.
Read more: Singer Angela Peralta: Who was she? career and the reason for death
A Google Doodle commemorating Kono’s birth anniversary in 2021 featured a picture of him.
Death
On April 24, 2016, Kono, 85, passed away in Honolulu, Hawaii, from complications related to liver disease. His 53-year-old wife, the former Florence Rodrigues of Honolulu, three children, and three grandchildren were among his survivors.
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