Tsutomu Hanahara

Tsutomu Hanahara

Tsutomu Hanahara ( Japanese 花 原 勉 , Hanahara Tsutomu ; born January 3, 1940 ) is a former Japanese wrestler . He was Olympic champion in Tokyo in 1964 in the Greco-Roman style flyweight.

Career

Hanahara began wrestling as a teenager in high school. He then attended Nippon Sport Science University in Tokyo , where he studied sport. During his studies there he was able to devote himself fully to competitive wrestling .

He concentrated on the Greco-Roman style, which was less contested in Japan. In 1961 he was the first Japanese flyweight champion and represented his country at the World Championships in Yokohama . He was able to defeat Mohammad Paziraye , a very strong wrestler from Iran , but was defeated by the American John Richard Wilson and the Olympic champion Dumitru Pârvulescu from Romania and ended up in 6th place.

In the next two years he could not prevail in Japan against his strong competitors Kōji Sakurama , Sadao Yamamoto and Masamitsu Ichiguchi and was not used at the World Championships. But he was nominated for the Asian Games in Djakarta in the flyweight division. He lost the final there against the Indian Malwa and took 2nd place.

In 1964 the Olympic Games were held in Tokyo. Tsutomu Hanahara did everything possible to qualify for these games and did so. He was then in excellent shape at the Olympic tournament and became Olympic champion in Greco-Roman with six convincing victories. Flyweight style, defeating Dumitru Pârvulescu and Angel Keresow from Bulgaria in the finals.

In 1965 and 1966 he devoted himself more to his studies and was not represented at the world championships. In 1967 he was back at the World Cup in Bucharest . Here he started in the bantamweight division. He won three fights, wrestling against János Varga from Hungary and Siavash Shafizadeh from Iran and was defeated by local hero Ion Baciu on points, which put him in third place.

In 1968 Tsutomu Hanahara resigned and continued to work as a trainer at Nippon Sport Science University.

Success at international championships

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, GR = Greco-Roman style, Fl = flyweight, Ba = bantam weight, then up to 52 kg or 57 kg body weight)

• 1961, 6th place , World Championship in Yokohama , GR, Fl, with a victory over Mohammad Paziraye , Iran a . Defeats to John Richard Wilson , USA a . Dumitru Pârvulescu , Romania ;
• 1962, 2nd place , Asian Games in Djakarta , GR, Fl, behind Malwa, India a . in front of Furmudtari, Indonesia a . Hassan Mohammad, Pakistan ;
• 1964, gold medal , OS in Tokyo , GR, Fl, with victories over Imre Alker , Hungary , Armais Sajadow , USSR , Vassilios Ganotis, Greece , Maurice Mewis , Belgium , Angel Keresow , Bulgaria a . Dumitru Pârvulescu;
• 1967, 3rd place , World Cup in Bucharest , GR, Ba, with victories over Jan Neckar, Czechoslovakia , Luis Manoel Grilo, Portugal a . Risto Björlin , Finland , draw against János Varga , Hungary a . Siavash Shafizadeh , Iran u. a loss to Ion Baciu , Romania

swell

• Athletics magazine from 1961 to 1968,
• Documentation of FILA's International Wrestling Championships, 1976
• International Wrestling Database of the Institute for Applied Training Sciences of the University of Leipzig (Note: In this database Tsutomu Hanahara is assumed to have placed 6th at the 1958 World Championships in Budapest in the Greco-Roman style in flyweight, while this wrestler placed 6th at the World Championship 1961 in Yokohama is not listed. Obviously there is a mix-up here. No Japanese wrestlers took part in the 1958 World Championship in Budapest, see Documentation of International Wrestling Championships of the FILA, pages W 32 to 35)

Web links

• Profile of Tsutomu Hanahara at the Institute for Applied Training Science