Tsuyoshi Yamanaka

Tsuyoshi Yamanaka
Tsuyoshi Yamanaka (center) together with Murray Rose (left) and John Konrads (right) at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome .
Personal information
Surname:	Tsuyoshi Yamanaka
Nation:	Japan
Swimming style (s) :	Freestyle
Birthday:	January 18, 1939
Place of birth:	Wajima
Date of death:	February 10, 2017
Place of death:	Tokyo
Size:	1.71 m
Weight:	75 kg
Medal table

Tsuyoshi Yamanaka ( Japanese 山 中 毅 , Yamanaka Tsuyoshi ; born January 18, 1939 in Wajima ; † February 10, 2017 in Tokyo ) was a Japanese swimmer and Olympic participant. He won two gold medals at the Asian Games in Tokyo , the capital of his home country, in 1958 . They represent the greatest successes of his career. Yamanaka's appearances at the Summer Olympics in Melbourne in 1956 and in Rome in 1960 are legendary . Although he secured two silver medals each, he was beaten in all of these four races by the Australian Murray Rose , respectively the Australian relay with Rose. Both athletes, however, took this circumstance with humor and rose, who was born twelve days before Yamanaka, extremely joking that the Japanese would let him go first because he had respect for age.

Yamanaka's trainer used the so-called pebble method to encourage his protégé. If he showed only moderate participation in the practice units, the trainer threw him a small stone on his back as a sign that he was watching him closely. After finishing the training, Yamanaka had to look for the stones from the bottom of the pool.

In 1983 Yamanaka, who also won the Amateur Athletic Union Championships in the 200 and 400 meter freestyle, was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in recognition of his achievements .

International records

Tsuyoshi Yamanaka held numerous Japanese records during his playing days and from August 22, 1958 to January 16, 1959, he held the world record in the 200 meters freestyle with 2: 03.00 minutes. On August 22, 1959, he got it back and in the following years undercut his own record three times, down to 2: 00.4 minutes, before losing it on April 21, 1963. From July 26, 1959 to February 23, 1960 he held the world record in 4: 16.60 minutes, also over twice the distance and with the relay from July 22, 1959 to July 23, 1960 and from April 21, 1963 to August 10, 1963 the world record in the 4 × 200 meter freestyle.

Yamanaka also set American records for 200 and 400 freestyle at the Amateur Athletic Union Championships.

Web links

• Tsuyoshi Yamanaka in the International Swimming Hall of Fame (English)
• Tsuyoshi Yamanaka in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Swimming: 5-time Olympic medalist Yamanaka dies. In: kyodonews.net. February 14, 2017, accessed March 10, 2017 .