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 titles – 440 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]