Thomas Kono

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Thomas Kono (2015)

Thomas Kono (born June 27, 1930 in Sacramento , California , † April 24, 2016 in Honolulu , Hawaii ) was an American weightlifter .

Career

Thomas (Tamio, Tommy) Kono was the son of Japanese immigrants to the United States. In 1942 he was interned with his parents in a camp in Northern California because of the war against Japan and had to stay there until December 1945. In the camp he made friends with whom he did bodybuilding and some weightlifting. In early 1946 he returned to Sacramento with his family and attended Sacramento High School. He now trained the weightlifting more consistently and started in 1948 for the first time in a competition, the Northern California AAU Weightlifting Championships. He took second place in the lightweight category with a good performance.

He now trained with the then famous weightlifters Dan Uhalde and Roy Hilligen in a sports center in Oakland . At the 1950 Pacific Coast Weightlifting Championships in Berkeley he already achieved an excellent 350 kg in the Olympic three-way battle. Now the mentor of the US weightlifters, Bob Hoffman , noticed him and supported him materially from now on. In 1952 he was sent to the Olympic Games in Helsinki , after he was barely defeated by world champion Joe Pitman at the USA championships in 1950 and 1951 . He became an Olympic champion straight away . In 1952/53 he did his military service and was stationed in Germany for a few months . During these months he showed excellent performances at various events in Mannheim and Ludwigshafen am Rhein .

He showed his great skills on the international lifting platform until 1963. With two gold medals, one silver medal at the Olympic Games and six world championship titles, he was one of the most successful weightlifters of all time. He achieved the uniqueness of winning in the three weight classes of lightweight, middleweight and light-heavyweight. After finishing his active career, he initially worked in a good position in industry, but gave up this position when he was appointed national coach for Mexico in 1966 . He was then the head coach of the German national weightlifting team from 1969 to 1972. After the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich , he returned to the USA and settled in Oahu, Hawaii. He got a job with the City of Honolulu. However, he remained loyal to weightlifting as a volunteer coach of the US national weightlifting team, whose head coach he was from 1972 to 1976. Finally, from 1987 to 1990, he coached the lifters of the US women's team.

While visiting his relatives, Tommy Kono was also holding weight lifting workshops in Sacramento.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, Le = lightweight, Mi = middleweight, Ls = light heavyweight)

  • 1952, gold medal , OS in Helsinki , Le, with 362.5 kg, ahead of Yevgeny Lopatin , USSR , 350 kg and Verne Barberis, Australia , 350 kg;
  • 1953, 1st place , World Championships in Stockholm , Wed, with 407.5 kg, ahead of Dave Sheppard , USA , 397.5 kg and Juri Duganow , USSR , 382.5 kg;
  • 1954, 1st place , World Championships in Vienna , Ls, with 435 kg in front of Trofim Lomakin , USSR, 427.5 kg and Jean Debuf , France , 405 kg;
  • 1955, 1st place , PanAm Games in Mexico City , Ls, with 437.5 kg, in front of Forte, Argentina , 372.5 kg;
  • 1955, 1st place , World Championships in Munich , Ls, with 435 kg, in front of Wassili Stepanow , USSR, 425 kg and James George , USA, 402.5 kg;
  • 1956, gold medal , OS in Melbourne , with 447.5 kg, ahead of Stepanow, 427.5 kg and James George, 417.5 kg;
  • 1957, 1st place , World Championships in Tehran , Wed, with 420 kg, ahead of Fjodor Bogdanowski , USSR, 420 kg and Jan Bochenek , Poland , 395 kg;
  • 1958, 1st place , Grand Prix of Moscow , Wed, with 417.5 kg, ahead of Bogdanowski, 412.5 kg and Alexander Kurynow , USSR, 400 kg;
  • 1958, 1st place , World Championships in Stockholm , Wed, with 430 kg, ahead of Bogdanowski, 422.5 kg and Marcel Paterni, France, 395 kg;
  • 1959, 1st place , PanAm Games, Wed, with 407.5 kg, before Kerbage, Argentina, 377.5 kg;
  • 1959, 1st place , World Championships in Warsaw , Wed, with 425 kg, ahead of Bogdanowski, 417.5 kg and Bochenek, 392.5 kg;
  • 1960, silver medal , OS in Rome , Wed, with 427.5 kg, behind Kurynow, 437.5 kg and in front of Győző Veres , Hungary , 405 kg;
  • 1961, 1st place , Grand Prix of Moscow, Ls, with 460 kg, in front of Ljach, USSR, 445 kg;
  • 1961, 3rd place , World Cup in Vienna, Ls, with 430 kg, behind Rudolf Plukfelder , USSR, 450 kg and Géza Tóth , Hungary, 432.5 kg;
  • 1962, 2nd place , WM, Ls, with 455 kg, behind Veres, 460 kg and in front of Toth, 442.5 kg;
  • 1963, 1st place , PanAm Games, Ls, with 435 kg, ahead of Ryna, Antilles, 410 kg.

USA championships

  • 1950, 2nd place, Le, with 345 kg, behind Joe Pitman , 347.5 kg and in front of Dave Sheppard , 345 kg,
  • 1951, 2nd place, Le, with 345 kg, behind Pitman, 352.5 kg,
  • 1952, 1st place, Le, with 320 kg,
  • 1953, 1st place, Wed, with 415 kg, in front of Peter George , 385 kg,
  • 1954, 1st place, Ls, with 417.5 kg,
  • 1955, 1st place, Ls, with 422.5 kg,
  • 1957, 1st place, Ls, with 440 kg, in front of James George, 425 kg and Sheppard, 410 kg,
  • 1958, 1st place, Wed, with 405 kg, in front of Louis Riecke jr. , 365 kg,
  • 1959, 1st place, Wed, with 410 kg, before Riecke, 365 kg,
  • 1960, 1st place, Wed, with 390 kg,
  • 1961, 1st place, Ls, with 445 kg, in front of Riecke, 437.5 kg and Gary Cleveland , 400 kg,
  • 1962, 1st place, Ls with 427.5 kg, ahead of Cleveland, 425 kg,
  • 1963, 1st place, Ls, with 440 kg, in front of Riecke, 440 kg and Cleveland, 425 kg,
  • 1965, 3rd place, Ls, with 437.5 kg, behind Cleveland, 447.5 kg and Joe Puleo , 440 kg.

World records

when pressing with both arms:

  • 112.5 kg, 1952 in Copenhagen , Le,
  • 130 kg, 1953 in Indianapolis , Wed,
  • 131 kg, 1954 in Lille , Wed,
  • 143.5 kg, 1954 in Mexico City, Ls,
  • 132.5 kg, 1955 in Leningrad , Wed,
  • 133.5 kg, 1956 in Honolulu , Wed,
  • 144 kg, 1956 in Honolulu, Ls,
  • 144.5 kg, 1957 in Honolulu, Ls,
  • 145 kg, 1957 in Honolulu, Ls.

in two-armed tearing:

  • 117.5 kg, 1952 in Helsinki , Le,
  • 133.5 kg, 1958 in Stockholm, Wed.

in two-armed thrusting:

  • 168.5 kg, 1953 in Stockholm, Wed,
  • 172.5 kg, 1954 in Copenhagen, Ls,
  • 173.5 kg, 1956 in Honolulu, Ls,
  • 175 kg, 1956 in Melbourne, Ls.

in the Olympic three-way battle:

  • 412.5 kg, 1953 in Mannheim , Wed,
  • 415 kg, 1953 in Indianapolis, Wed,
  • 435 kg, 1954 in Vienna, Ls,
  • 442.5 kg, 1956 in Honolulu, Ls,
  • 447.5 kg, 1956 in Melbourne, Ls,
  • 425 kg, 1958 in Stockholm Wed,
  • 427.5 kg, 1958 in Chicago , Wed.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Olympic weightlifter Kono dies at 85 . Honolulu Star Advertiser, April 24, 2016, accessed September 8, 2016.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Kono, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American weightlifter and weightlifting coach
DATE OF BIRTH June 27, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Sacramento , California
DATE OF DEATH April 24, 2016
Place of death Honolulu , Hawaii