View source for Sawao Katō

{{Short description|Japanese gymnast (born 1946)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2023}}
{{Eastern name order|Katō Sawao}}
{{Infobox gymnast
|name= Sawao Katō
|image= Sawao Kato 1970.jpg
|imagesize=
|caption=Katō in 1970
|fullname= 
|altname=
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|country={{JPN}}
|formercountry=
|birth_date= {{nowrap|{{birth date and age|1946|10|11}}}}
|birth_place= [[Gosen, Niigata]], Japan<!-- DO NOT LINK, see [[MOS:GEOLINK]] for further guidance --><!-- DO NOT ADD "Allied-occupied Japan", it refers to the period, not the actual name of the country at that time, in spite of Japan not being de facto sovereign then -->{{Efn|Japan was [[Occupation of Japan|under the Allied occupation]] at the time of Katō's birth.}}
|hometown= 
|residence=
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| height = {{convert|1.63|m|ftin|abbr=on}}
| weight = {{convert|59|kg|lb|abbr=on}}
|discipline=MAG
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|gym=
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|retired= 1977
|medaltemplates= <!-- see [[Template:MedalRelatedTemplates]] -->
{{MedalCompetition | [[Gymnastics at the Summer Olympics|Olympic Games]]}}
[[File:Olympic rings.svg|center|80px]]
{{MedalGold|[[Gymnastics at the 1968 Summer Olympics|1968 Mexico City]]|[[Gymnastics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's artistic team all-around|Team]]}}
{{MedalGold|[[Gymnastics at the 1968 Summer Olympics|1968 Mexico City]]|[[Gymnastics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's artistic individual all-around|All-around]]}}
{{MedalGold|[[Gymnastics at the 1968 Summer Olympics|1968 Mexico City]]|[[Gymnastics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's floor|Floor]]}}
{{MedalGold|[[Gymnastics at the 1972 Summer Olympics|1972 Munich]]|[[Gymnastics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's artistic team all-around|Team]]}}
{{MedalGold|[[Gymnastics at the 1972 Summer Olympics|1972 Munich]]|[[Gymnastics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's artistic individual all-around|All-around]]}}
{{MedalGold|[[Gymnastics at the 1972 Summer Olympics|1972 Munich]]|[[Gymnastics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's parallel bars|Parallel bars]]}}
{{MedalGold|[[Gymnastics at the 1976 Summer Olympics|1976 Montreal]]|[[Gymnastics at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Men's artistic team all-around|Team]]}}
{{MedalGold|[[Gymnastics at the 1976 Summer Olympics|1976 Montreal]]|[[Gymnastics at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Men's parallel bars|Parallel bars]]}}
{{MedalSilver|[[Gymnastics at the 1972 Summer Olympics|1972 Munich]]|[[Gymnastics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's pommel horse|Pommel horse]]}}
{{MedalSilver|[[Gymnastics at the 1972 Summer Olympics|1972 Munich]]|[[Gymnastics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's horizontal bar|Horizontal bar]]}}
{{MedalSilver|[[Gymnastics at the 1976 Summer Olympics|1976 Montreal]]|[[Gymnastics at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Men's artistic individual all-around|All-around]]}}
{{MedalBronze|[[Gymnastics at the 1968 Summer Olympics|1968 Mexico City]]|[[Gymnastics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's rings|Rings]]}}
{{MedalCompetition | [[World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|World Championships]]}}
{{MedalGold|[[1974 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships|1974 Varna]]|Team}}
}}

{{Nihongo|'''Sawao Katō'''|加藤 澤男|Katō Sawao|born October 11, 1946}} is a Japanese former [[gymnastics|gymnast]] and one of the most successful [[Olympic Games|Olympic]] athletes of all time. Between 1968 and 1976 he won twelve Olympic medals, including eight gold medals, making him the most successful Japanese Olympian by number of gold medals won.<ref name=sr>{{cite Sports-Reference |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ka/sawao-kato-1.html |title=Sawao Kato |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417041106/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ka/sawao-kato-1.html |archive-date=April 17, 2020}}</ref>

== Biography ==
[[File:Sawao Kato cropped 1 Sawao Kato 202011.jpg|thumb|left|Sawao Katō]]
Katō was born in [[Niigata Prefecture]] on October 11, 1946, and studied at the [[University of Tsukuba|Tokyo Kyoiku University]]. He first competed in the Olympics in 1968, alongside his elder brother [[Takeshi Katō (gymnast)|Takeshi]]. They won the team competition, with Sawao also taking gold medals in the all-around and on the floor. He placed third in the [[rings (gymnastics)|rings]] event.<ref name=sr/>

Four years later the Japanese men's gymnastics team dominated the 1972 Olympics, taking 15 out of 21 individual medals. Katō won gold medals all-around and in the parallel bars and silvers on the horizontal bar and pommel horse. He aimed for an unprecedented third gold medal in the all-around at the [[1976 Summer Olympics]], but was defeated by [[Nikolai Andrianov]]. The team competition was close this time, but the Japanese defeated the Soviets by four tenths of a point, earning their fifth consecutive title. Katō closed out his Olympic career by retaining his title in the parallel bars.<ref name=sr/>

Katō is one of only ten athletes to have won eight or more Olympic gold medals. He is one of the most successful male gymnasts ever at the Olympics: his eight gold and twelve overall medals are best rivaled by [[Nikolai Andrianov]]'s seven gold and 15 overall, [[Boris Shakhlin]]'s seven gold and 13 overall, and [[Takashi Ono (gymnast)|Takashi Ono]]'s five gold and 13 overall. He won more Olympic gold medals than any Japanese Olympian, and is second after Ono in the total number of medals. In 2001, Katō was inducted into the [[International Gymnastics Hall of Fame]].<ref name="hof">{{cite web | title = SAWAO KATO | work = International Gymnastics Hall of Fame | url = http://www.ighof.com/honorees/honorees_kato.html | access-date = May 12, 2007 }}</ref>

As of 2010, Katō was a [[professor emeritus]] at the [[University of Tsukuba]].<ref>[http://www.tsukuba.ac.jp/english/topics/20101216151341.html The Statue of Dr. Jigoro Kano Unveiled]. [[University of Tsukuba]]. December 1, 2010</ref> On May 14, 2021, Jovian asteroid [[43212 Katosawao]], discovered by astronomers with the American [[Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research|LINEAR]] survey in 2000, was {{MoMP|43212|named in his honor}}.<ref name="WGSBN-Bulletin-Archive" />

==See also==
* [[List of multiple Olympic gold medalists]]
* [[List of multiple Olympic medalists]]
* [[List of multiple Summer Olympic medalists]]
* [[List of Olympic medal leaders in men's gymnastics]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Commons category}}
{{Reflist|refs=

<ref name="WGSBN-Bulletin-Archive">{{cite web
  |title      = WGSBN Bulletin Archive
  |work       = Working Group Small Body Nomenclature
  |date       = May 14, 2021
|url        = https://www.wgsbn-iau.org/files/Bulletins/index.html
  |access-date = May 16, 2021}} ([https://www.wgsbn-iau.org/files/Bulletins/V001/WGSBNBull_V001_001.pdf Bulletin #1])</ref>

}} <!-- end of relist -->

==External links==
* {{FIG}}
* {{IGHOF}}
* {{Olympics.com profile}}
* {{Olympedia}}

{{Footer Olympic Champions All-Around Men}}
{{Footer Olympic Champions Floor Men}}
{{Footer Olympic Champions Parallel Bars Men}}
{{Olympic champions artistic gymnastics Men TC|1968|1972|1976}}
{{NavigationWorldChampionsArtisticGymnasticsMenTC|1974}}
{{International Gymnastics Hall of Fame members}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kato, Sawao}}
[[Category:1946 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Japanese male artistic gymnasts]]
[[Category:Olympic gymnasts for Japan]]
[[Category:Gymnasts at the 1968 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Gymnasts at the 1972 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Gymnasts at the 1976 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Olympic medalists in gymnastics]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Tsukuba]]
[[Category:University of Tsukuba alumni]]
[[Category:Olympic gold medalists for Japan]]
[[Category:Olympic silver medalists for Japan]]
[[Category:Olympic bronze medalists for Japan]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Niigata Prefecture]]
[[Category:20th-century Japanese sportsmen]]