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Tommy Kono legendary weightlifter passed away yesterday .

kyle grey

kyle grey

MuscleHead
May 15, 2012
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His achievements were amazing , here's some background on him in his own words -

I won two Olympic gold medals, one silver, was eight times world champion, set 26 world records spread over 4 bodyweight classes, was not subsidized, did not have fancy training quarters, coaches, or any of the things of today. How did I do it? How did I beat the world? I knew that lifting is more than muscle power. It is mental power. My second book tells you how to increase your mental power to make yourself lift at the championship level.
As the following brief story explains, you’ll learn that I was not a gifted or talented child nor born to a wealthy family. I had many “ups and downs” while growing up and during the developmental years of my weightlifting career. Nothing came easy for me.
When I was in grade school I often wondered why I was a victim of asthmatic attacks when none of my friends or classmates had asthma. My three older brothers were robust in health and so were my parents. Why was I missing almost a third of my school days? I missed so many days of school that I was placed in the slow learners class.
I grew up in the 1930s depression era in the lower end of Sacramento, California and when WW II broke out, my family, along with all the other Japanese-Americans on the West Coast, was interned in relocation camps. With 3½ years behind barbed wire compound with military sentries posted in watchtowers and living in barracks, I felt socially out of place when I returned to my hometown after the war. I was 15½ years of age and returning to “civilization” was almost like an immigrant setting up a new residence.
Camp internment did improve my health, and it was in camp that my new next-door neighbor, who was into weight training, introduced me to barbell and dumbbell training. Before returning to my hometown, I had a year of weight training behind me so my strength level had improved and filled out to some extent my skinny body that gave me more confidence.
Training with weights and reading the monthly Strength & Health magazine did much to influence me in a positive way during my high school and Junior College years. From the senior year of high school when I entered my first weightlifting contest, I improved so rapidly that within 26 months, at the Pacific Coast Championships, I had made the highest total (780 lb.) in the world of anyone in my bodyweight class. The 1950 World Championships was won with 777 lbs.
I missed making the 1950 U.S. World Championship Team because 3 days before the Team Try-out, my mother passed away; so instead of competing in the Trials, I flew back home.
The following year I was determined to improve my lifting even more but the Korean Conflict called me to military service. This curbed my weightlifting training completely for military “Basic Training” allows no time for any other activity for 11 weeks. After my Basic Training, I took the option of becoming a cook in the Army so I could cook every other day and be able to train on my off duty days. This worked fine until the North Koreans started to target the cooks. The U.S. Army was known to “move on its’ stomach” and without warm food it was assumed the army would be demoralized.
I reported to Camp Stoneman where the troop gathered to be sent overseas, but, in reporting for duty, I was informed that I was taken off the list because I was “a candidate for the Olympic Team.” I suspect someone like Coach Bob Hoffman must have put in a good word for me in Washington, D.C. that gave me the opportunity to make the 1952 U.S. Olympic Team. Evidently the U.S. Army thought I’d be of better service to the U.S. at the Olympic Games than “up front” as a cook. Anyway, what could have been hazardous duty of war was now turned to a mission of representing the U.S. on the international stage at the Olympic Games.
I won the gold medal at the Helsinki Olympics, but my military orders received just a few days before my competition date notified me to be stationed in West Germany for the remainder of my military term to fulfill my overseas duty.
I made the best of the situation while in Germany by giving exhibitions as a “guest lifter” to the German “league competitions,” a weightlifting competition among the various weightlifting clubs that was held on Saturday evenings.
I learned much from taking part in these weekly lifting sessions and it helped me understand and refine the training process for improving continuously. I was fortunate to have an Olympic lifting set where I was assigned but nothing else… no squat racks or a lifting platform and the Olympic set had iron plates. Yet, by being resourceful and innovative in my training, every time I performed on weekends, I equaled or exceeded the Olympic record total of 880 lbs.
With an Olympic gold medal and many exhibitions and a few international contests behind me, I returned to the U.S. to get discharged from the Army and was more confident in myself than when I left for Helsinki for the Olympic Games 10 months before.
My basic personality did not change because of the added experiences and exposure, but I did learn one thing; we should all strive to keep improving ourselves no matter what happens and that adversities and objects are there to challenge our mettle and to make us better, stronger persons. It is in accepting that challenge that makes us persevere for the bigger goals of life.
Making excuses or looking for excuses get you nowhere, but finding the solution to a problem is what weightlifting (and life) is all about.
My first book, Weightlifting, Olympic Style, is what I consider a textbook on the Olympic lifts and it covers lifting technique to training programs and contest preparation with examples and stories related to actual performances.
The second book, Championship Weightlifting, covers the mental and psychological side of Olympic weightlifting and expounds on the approach to overcome the barriers that hold us back from progressing. Originally intended for coaches and elite lifters, I realized that the mental approach must be nurtured from the very beginning; so after several years of writing, I decided to rewrite some of the previous materials so it will be helpful to beginners as well.
In Championship Olympic Weightlifting, 50% is mental, 30% technique and 20% power. Most everyone has this in the reverse order of importance and spend too many hours in hard physical training but hardly any time in grooming his or her mind for the sport. The second book emphasizes how important the mental aspect has on Olympic weightlifting.


“In his essay Self Reliance, Ralph Waldo Emerson
asked who is the master who would have
taught Newton; I ask who is the master who
would have taught Tommy Kono? Again he
shares with us his vast knowledge and expertise;
we are so fortunate . . .


Lou DeMarco, Senior International Coach

 
BrotherIron

BrotherIron

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Mar 6, 2011
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Truly a legend and someone who will be missed.
 
any1uno

any1uno

MuscleHead
Dec 22, 2010
1,431
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TY for sharing this. He'll truly be missed. I wasn't aware of a second book and will be purchasing it. I really enjoy learning all I can from the greats.
 
R

rawdeal

TID Board Of Directors
Nov 29, 2013
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The term GOAT originated as a derogatory one, the guy who dropped the winning pass, the one who strikes out with bases loaded, or the one who misses an easy buzzer beating basket. It morphed to the opposite over the years, not just great, but "greatest of all time."

Kono is THE GOAT for US Olympic Lifters, the only discussion would be about who might be a distant second. In a sport dominated by everybody but US lifters since the 1960's, he is in a handful worthy of GOAT consideration regardless of nationality. When Ali dies, we will remember him as a man many considered boxing's GOAT, together with a man who overcame great adversity from his own government, a man who showed us something beyond sports skills.

Same thing with Tommy Kono.
 
Ramrod

Ramrod

MuscleHead
Jun 5, 2012
1,812
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Sad Day, I've read a lot of what he wrote.
 
BrotherIron

BrotherIron

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Mar 6, 2011
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The term GOAT originated as a derogatory one, the guy who dropped the winning pass, the one who strikes out with bases loaded, or the one who misses an easy buzzer beating basket. It morphed to the opposite over the years, not just great, but "greatest of all time."

Kono is THE GOAT for US Olympic Lifters, the only discussion would be about who might be a distant second. In a sport dominated by everybody but US lifters since the 1960's, he is in a handful worthy of GOAT consideration regardless of nationality. When Ali dies, we will remember him as a man many considered boxing's GOAT, together with a man who overcame great adversity from his own government, a man who showed us something beyond sports skills.

Same thing with Tommy Kono.

Funny thing is the derogatory term for Oly lifters is "Clarking" a weight. It's named after an actual lifter (who was really good) but he would pull the weight and then drop it when it got to the torso... like he just ran out of steam.\

I don't know if I'd say Kono is the greatest... I think I'd put Paul Anderson up there. The fact he dominated during his reign and did so even in Russia against everyone really makes one consider Anderson.
 
R

rawdeal

TID Board Of Directors
Nov 29, 2013
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Consider this as friendly debate:

Anderson ran circles around Kono for mainstream public recognition for the same reason the public usually pays more attention to heavyweights in any sport over the smaller guys. He was the strongest man in the world at the time, demonstrated in OL and all kinds of other stunts.

But, I was talking OL only. Anderson won the world championship held every non-Olympic yr in 1955 and added the Olympic Gold in 56. He was kept out of the 1960 Olympics by the tight-assed AAU for accepting small amounts of money for a hughly unsuccessful boxing career. He would have had a good chance in 60, pretty sure he would have been over the hill by 64. Not aware of him doing much of anything ( in OL ) in all the in-between yrs, although he did do many misc. strength exhibitions. KONO, otoh, won Olympic Golds in 52 and 56, added a Silver in 60, won every off-year world championship in between = 53,54,55,57,58, and 59, and won the 3 Pan American Golds during that time span.

I will give you Anderson as the distant 2nd I mentioned above, and add beaucoup brownie points for everything else he did in the strength world, incl. the intangible of capturing the public imagination.

For GOAT, OL only, USA only, gotta be Kono.
 
BrotherIron

BrotherIron

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Mar 6, 2011
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Consider this as friendly debate:

Anderson ran circles around Kono for mainstream public recognition for the same reason the public usually pays more attention to heavyweights in any sport over the smaller guys. He was the strongest man in the world at the time, demonstrated in OL and all kinds of other stunts.

But, I was talking OL only. Anderson won the world championship held every non-Olympic yr in 1955 and added the Olympic Gold in 56. He was kept out of the 1960 Olympics by the tight-assed AAU for accepting small amounts of money for a hughly unsuccessful boxing career. He would have had a good chance in 60, pretty sure he would have been over the hill by 64. Not aware of him doing much of anything ( in OL ) in all the in-between yrs, although he did do many misc. strength exhibitions. KONO, otoh, won Olympic Golds in 52 and 56, added a Silver in 60, won every off-year world championship in between = 53,54,55,57,58, and 59, and won the 3 Pan American Golds during that time span.

I will give you Anderson as the distant 2nd I mentioned above, and add beaucoup brownie points for everything else he did in the strength world, incl. the intangible of capturing the public imagination.

For GOAT, OL only, USA only, gotta be Kono.

Nothing wrong with a friendly debate.

Where do you put Norb Schmansky? He has 4 Olympic medals. He placed first at Worlds 3x, placed 2nd 3x, and won the Pan Am Championships. I only know about him b/c of my old Oly coach. The guy seemed to know the entire history of Oly lifting in the US as well as the world.... but I guess that's expected since he is in the Hall of Fame.
 
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R

rawdeal

TID Board Of Directors
Nov 29, 2013
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Still behind Kono, but maybe ahead of Anderson. For sheer awe appeal and public awareness, Anderson, best ever USA, maybe best ever any nation. But for OL accomplishment, Kono clearly ahead. I note all of Norb's medals and that they span 4 Olympics rather than "just" the 3 that define Kono. But looking at it the way we judge many sports, the overall won - loss record, Kono looks better than Norb to me as well. That argument wouldn't have much merit comparing a very long career to a much shorter one, but Kono's longevity was pretty close to Norb's. Kono was still giving it a go in 1964 too btw, but missed the team due to a knee injury. They both obviously earn scads of brownie points for excelling against younger world class competition, guess Norb gets the edge there.

With your coach's unique perspective, ask him about the sorta cheesy but very dramatic mind game the USSR Olympic teams used to play when entering Olympic Stadium during the 60's. Each nation's entire team marches in during opening ceremonies with some member from some sport chosen as flag bearer. In those yrs, the Soviets always had their OL Superhvywt up front, holding the flag in one hand, straight out @ 90 degrees the whole march. That struck me as shoulder suicide for someone who had to compete a week later, but Vlasov and Zhabotinsky took all the Golds so I guess I'm wrong. Not sure the US has ever chosen an OL to carry the flag, but our CCCP buddies, and some other countries, always prized OL more than this country. Part of Anderson's short-lived zenith was that tour of Russia, where they begrugingly dubbed him "a wonder of nature."
 
BrotherIron

BrotherIron

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My favorite Russian is Anatoli Pisarenko. The man was a phenom. It's said he C&J 272 in training which would have beaten Taraeneko's WR (which is still the best to date).
 
R

rawdeal

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My favorite Russian is Anatoli Pisarenko. The man was a phenom. It's said he C&J 272 in training which would have beaten Taraeneko's WR (which is still the best to date).

I love it when you speak Metric lol.

It opened my youthful American eyes when I learned some of the conversion factors from OL before the schools ever thought we needed to know. Kinda liked when the usual assortment of European men
would appear in photos receiving their medals, exchanging flowers and kisses. At a very young age I instinctively knew it wasn't gay, it was just that the world was a very big place and it wasn't all 'murican.

Coming up during some of the cold war, I alternately resented yet respected growing Soviet dominance of most sports, tickled me when some of their puppet nations started nipping at their heels in OL. First Poland and Hungary, then E Germany, then, BOOM, litty bitty Bulgaria. And to think, our boys Kono, Anderson and Schemansky saw all this, actually lived​ it and dug their feet in to resist the eventual decline of US OL, wow, renewed respect for our elders.
 
BrotherIron

BrotherIron

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It took some time for me to get used to kilos instead of pounds but after while just like with pounds you begin to know certain numbers b/c you're chasing them... 100kg = 220, 140kg = 307, 182.5kg = 400, 227kg = 500, 272kg = 600. Unfortunately, I was never good enough to work past that number back in the day and of course we're talking assisting lifts and not the classical ones.

Watching the lifts performed by the greats is something magical. Words can't even describe it.... I was lucky enough to attend the Pan Am's back in '09 and see some who I would call greats lift and it was mesmerizing. The greatest lifter I saw and spoke to was Lydia Valentin. Met her at the Ibero Championships the same year. It's breath taking watching her lift. She seemed to be flirting with gravity as to have it under her control as she effortlessly performed the snatch and C&J.
 
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