Yukio Endo

He won gold medals with the Japanese team in three Olympics, in 1960, 1964 and 1968.[6][7][8] At the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo he also received two individual gold medals, in parallel bars, and in individual all-around.[7][9]

Endō received six individual medals at the 1962 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, including a gold medal in floor exercise, and Japan also won the team competition.[10] He received two individual silver medals at the 1966 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, and Japan won the team competition.[10]

Yukio Endo in 1966

Endō was a four-time Japanese all-around champion.

Endo was born in a family of pharmacists, but his mother died from tuberculosis[11] when he was a nine-year-old student at Hiroomote Elementary School.[1] He studied at Kubota Junior High School[12] and Akita Technical High School and than at the Tokyo University of Education (now the University of Tsukuba), graduating in 1959. He later worked as assistant instructor of physical education at Nihon University.[5]

He retired after the 1968 Olympics to become a gymnastics coach and eventually professor at Nihon University. He also coached the national team at the 1972 Olympics, acted as director of the Japanese Olympic Committee and was twice appointed as vice-president of the Japan Gymnastic Association. In 1996, he received the Japanese Emperor's Medal, and in 1999 induced into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.[10][5]

He died of esophageal cancer.[13]