Tetsuo Okamoto

Tetsuo Okamoto

Tetsuo Okamoto (March 20, 1932 – October 1, 2007) was a Brazilian swimmer. He was a bronze medalist at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki (1500m Freestyle), the first Brazilian swimmer to win a medal at the Olympics. At the inaugural Pan American Games in 1951 he claimed two gold medals in the freestyle events.

Tetsuo Okamoto was a Brazilian born to parents of Japanese heritage, but he attended college in the United States, swimming for Texas A&M from 1956-1958. At Texas A&M, Okamoto was a four-time All-American, twice in the 400 and 1.500m Freestyle, and won four Southwest Conference titles440 freestyle in 1956, and the 220, 440, and 1500 freestyles in 1957. Prior to his Olympic and college successes, Okamoto had won gold medals at the 1951 Pan-American Games in both the 400 and 1,500 freestyle, and had swum for Japan in the 4x200 freestyle relay team that placed second.

A long-distance specialist, Okamoto twice broke the South American record in the men's 1.500m at the Helsinki Games: first with his swim of 19 min. 05 sec. in the preliminary trials, then in the final with a time of 18 min. 51 sec., becoming the first South American to swim under 19 minutes and winning a bronze medal.

He died in his city of birth, Marília, in which he always lived, on October 1, 2007, due to heart and respiratory failure, caused by a long-standing kidney problems which forced him to have frequent hemodialysis in the last years of his life.

References

* [http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90779/6276311.html "People's Daily" obituary]
* [http://www.cob.org.br/atenas2004/downloads/Introducao.pdf "Brazilian Olympic Committee" Athens 2004 Olympic Games, Brazilian Team Media Guide, page 40]
* [http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ok/tetsuo-okamoto-1.html sports-reference]


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  • List of Olympic medalists in swimming (men) — This is the complete list of men s Olympic medalists in swimming from 1896 to 2008. Contents 1 Current program 1.1 50 metre freestyle 1.2 100 meter freestyle 1.3 200 …   Wikipedia

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