Yoshi Oyakawa

Yoshi Oyakawa
Personal information
Full name Yoshinobu Oyakawa
Nickname(s) "Yoshi"
National team United States
Born (1933-08-09)August 9, 1933
Kona, Hawaii
Height 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Weight 154 lb (70 kg)
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokes Backstroke
Club Hawaii Swim Club
College team Ohio State University

Yoshinobu Oyakawa (born August 9, 1933) is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in the 100-meter backstroke. Oyakawa is considered to be the last of the great "straight-arm-pull" backstrokers and still holds the world record in this technique.

Career

College

Oyakawa attended the Ohio State University, where he won six Big Ten, seven NCAA, and nine NAAU championships.

Olympics

Oyakawa represented the United States at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, where he won the gold medal in the 100-meter backstroke event.[1]

He returned to Olympic competition at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, where he was elected co-captain along with Ford Konno.[2] He finished 8th in the 100-meter backstroke competition.[3]

Coaching

Oyakawa coached at Oak Hills High School from 1960 to 1985. He led Oak Hills to 23 conference championships and was named League Coach of the Year 23 times and Southwest Ohio Swimming Coach of the Year 12 times.[4]

Honors

See also

References

  1. ↑ Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Athletes, Yoshi Oyakawa. Retrieved October 4, 2012.
  2. ↑ "Oyakawa, Yoshinobu | Hawai'i Sports Hall of Fame". www.hawaiisportshalloffame.com. Retrieved 2018-02-19.
  3. ↑ "Yoshi Oyakawa, 1973 ISHOF Honor Swimmer". U.S. Masters Swimming. Retrieved 2018-02-19.
  4. 1 2 Oak Hills High School. "Oak Hills Athletic Hall of Fame Information, 2005-2015" (PDF). Retrieved February 18, 2018.
  5. ↑ International Swimming Hall of Fame, Honorees, Yoshi Oyakawa (USA). Retrieved April 10, 2015.
  6. ↑ "tBBC - Ten questions With Yoshi Oyakawa". BuckeyePlanet. Retrieved 2018-02-19.
  7. ↑ "Gold-en Days of Summer Olympics past: Part 2". From Woody's Couch. 2012-08-02. Retrieved 2018-02-19.
  8. ↑ "Inductees by Class Year | Hawai'i Sports Hall of Fame". www.hawaiisportshalloffame.com. Retrieved 2018-02-19.


Records
Preceded by
Gilbert Bozon		 Men's 100-meter backstroke
world record-holder (long course)
April 1, 1954 – February 27, 1955		 Succeeded by
Gilbert Bozon



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