We greet you!
Tommy Kono was a Japanese American weightlifter in the 1950s and 1960s. Kono set world records
in four different weight classes: lightweight (149 pounds or 67.5 kilograms), middleweight
(165 lb or 75 kg), light-heavyweight (182 lb or 82.5 kg) and middle-heavyweight (198
lb or 90 kg).
Tamio Kono was born June 27, 1930 in Sacramento, California, on June 27, 1930. His family was
of Japanese descent and were interned at Tule Lake internment camp in 1942 during World
War II. Sickly as a child, the desert air helped Kono's asthma. It was during the relocation
that Kono was introduced to weightlifting by neighbors including Noboru "Dave" Shimoda,
a member of the Tule Lake weightlifting and bodybuilding club and brother of actor Yuki
Shimoda and his friends, Gotoh, Toda and Bob Nakanishi. After 3½ years they were released
and Kono finished Sacramento High School. He later worked for the California Department
of Motor Vehicles and attended Sacramento Junior College.
Tommy was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1950 but was kept home from the Korean War after
officials learned of his Olympic potential.
Kono was a gold medalist at both the 1952 Summer Olympics and 1956 Summer Olympics,
and a silver medalist at the 1960 Summer Olympics under coach Bob Hoffman. Tommy won the World
Weightlifting Championships six consecutive times from 1953 to 1959 and was a three-time
Pan American Games champion; in 1955, 1959, and 1963.
A knee injury prevented him from qualifying for the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and
the following year he retired from the sport. He set a total of 26 world records and seven
Olympic records, making him the most accomplished U.S. male weightlifter to date.
Tommy Kono was also a successful bodybuilder, winning the Fédération Internationale Haltérophile
et Culturiste Mr. Universe titles in 1954, 1955, 1957 and 1961. After his retirement
he turned to coaching, taking on the Mexican 1968 Summer Olympics and West German 1972
Summer Olympics weightlifting teams before becoming head coach of the United States'
Olympic weightlifting team at the 1976 Summer Olympics.
During his weightlifting career in the 1960s, he developed a pair of bands to support knees
during training. These eventually extended to the elbows and became standard weightlifting
equipment. While he was coaching in West Germany during the 1970s, his correspondence with
Adidas led to the firm's development of low cut weightlifting shoes.
Along with his weightlifting and bodybuilding titles, Kono was an eight-time Amateur Athletic
Union James E. Sullivan Award finalist, an award given annually to the top American amateur
athlete. He was also one of the first members of the Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame in 1978.
In 1990, Tommy received the Association of Oldetime Barbell and Strongmen Highest Achievement
Award and was inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame. He was elected to the
International Weightlifting Federation Hall of Fame in 1993. In 2005, the International
Weightlifting Federation named Kono the "Lifter of the Century."
Kono appeared in Universal Newsreel volume 32, number 63, August 6, 1959. He is depicted
as part of a mural located at 37 West Philadelphia Street in York, Pennsylvania. This mural was
finished in 2000.
Kono was depicted in a Google Doodle marking the anniversary of his birth in 2021.
Tommy Kono died on April 24, 2016 in Honolulu, Hawaii from complications of liver disease,
aged 85.
That's all for now. If you liked the video, like it, subscribe and be sure to hit the
bell to be the first to know about the release of the new video.