Sawao Katō is a gymnast who has competed for Japan. He competed at the 1968, 1972, and 1976 Summer Olympic Games. He is widely regarded as one of the most successful male gymnasts of all-time. Among his three Olympic trips, he won a total of twelve medals; eight of them were gold, the largest amount attained by any Japanese athlete in Olympic history. He was second after Takashi Ono for the most Olympic medals won by Japanese men (12) and fourth overall in history.
Kato started his Olympic trip at Mexico City 1968 with his elder brother Takeshi. They comfortably dominated the team portion of the men's artistic gymnastics competition, with Sawao also capturing the gold medals in the all-around final and on the floor exercise. He placed third behind the winner Akinori Nakayama on the rings.
Four years later in Munich, the Japanese men's team (led by Kato) dominated the entire competition at the Games, taking 15 out of the 21 individual medals awarded to the gymnasts. He also returned to successfully defend his all-around title, becoming the third man in the event's history to attain such feat since Alberto Bragila in 1912 and Viktor Chukarin in 1956. Apart from his triumphant title defense, he also enjoyed his teammates Eizo Kenmotsu and Nakayama taking the silver and bronze as the Japanese men swept the podium for the first time since Paris 1900. He continued his successful run by adding a gold on the parallel bars and a silver each on the horizontal bar and pommel horse.
Kato aimed for an unprecedented third straight gold in the all-around final at Montreal 1976, but he lost the title to his Soviet rival Nikolai Andrianov by a tenth of a point. Despite a close defeat, he set a record as the first and most decorated man in the event's history with two golds and a silver at three consecutive Olympiads until he later tied with Kōhei Uchimura from 2008 to 2016. The team portion was a close competition between Japan and Soviet Union for the gold, with Kato leading the Japanese men to their fifth straight triumph over the latter by 0.4 of a point. He closed out his Olympic career by retaining his title on the parallel bars.
Olympic Results[]
Year | Event | Result |
---|---|---|
1968 | Men's individual all-around | |
Men's team | ||
Men's floor | ||
Men's vault | Q5 | |
Men's parallel bars | Q3 | |
Men's horizontal bar | Q3 | |
Men's rings | ||
Men's pommel horse | 8th | |
1972 | Men's individual all-around | |
Men's team | ||
Men's floor | 6th | |
Men's vault | 4th | |
Men's parallel bars | ||
Men's horizontal bar | ||
Men's rings | 4th | |
Men's pommel horse | ||
1976 | Men's individual all-around | |
Men's team | ||
Men's floor | 5th | |
Men's vault | 7th | |
Men's parallel bars | ||
Men's horizontal bar | Q4 | |
Men's rings | 6th | |
Men's pommel horse | 5th |
1968[]
Discipline | Stage | Score |
---|---|---|
Individual all-around | Final | 115.900 |
Team | Final | 575.900 (115.900) |
Floor | Qualification | 19.650 |
Final | 19.475 | |
Vault | Qualification | 18.900 |
Final | Did not advance | |
Parallel bars | Qualification | 19.350 |
Final | Did not advance | |
Horizontal bar | Qualification | 19.450 |
Final | Did not advance | |
Rings | Qualification | 19.550 |
Final | 19.225 | |
Pommel horse | Qualification | 19.000 |
Final | Did not advance |
1972[]
Discipline | Stage | Score |
---|---|---|
Individual all-around | Qualification | 115.100 |
Final | 114.650 | |
Team | Final | 571.250 (115.100) |
Floor | Qualification | 19.100 |
Final | 18.750 | |
Vault | Qualification | 19.000 |
Final | 18.550 | |
Parallel bars | Qualification | 19.350 |
Final | 19.475 | |
Horizontal bar | Qualification | 19.550 |
Final | 19.525 | |
Rings | Qualification | 19.100 |
Final | 19.150 | |
Pommel horse | Qualification | 19.000 |
Final | 19.000 |
1976[]
Discipline | Stage | Score |
---|---|---|
Individual all-around | Qualification | 115.900 |
Final | 115.650 | |
Team | Final | 576.850 (115.900) |
Floor | Qualification | 19.200 |
Final | 19.250 | |
Vault | Qualification | 19.100 |
Final | Did not advance | |
Parallel bars | Qualification | 19.550 |
Final | 19.675 | |
Horizontal bar | Qualification | 19.400 |
Final | Did not advance | |
Rings | Qualification | 19.250 |
Final | 19.125 | |
Pommel horse | Qualification | 19.400 |
Final | 19.400 |