Akio Kaminaga

Akio Kaminaga (left) at the 1964 Olympics

Personal information

Born

December 22, 1936
Sendai, Miyagi, Japan

Died

March 21, 1993 (aged 56)

Height

1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)

Weight

102 kg (225 lb)

Sport

Judo

Medal record

Olympic Games
Representing Japan
	1964 Tokyo	Open
World Championships
	1958 Tokyo	Open

Akio Kaminaga (神永昭夫, Kaminaga Akio, December 22, 1936 – March 21, 1993) was a Japanese judoka who won a silver medal in the open weight category at the 1964 Summer Olympics.^[1]

Biography

Kaminaga was born in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture,^[2] and began learning judo during high school; a considerably late start for a top competitor. Kaminaga improved his techniques at a quick pace, and took a dan rank exam at the Kodokan Institute at the suggestion of his colleagues during his senior year in high school. Kaminaga defeated 19 straight opponents in the exam, and was awarded a third dan ranking on the spot.

However, Kaminaga was completely outclassed when he participated in the Meiji University judo team's sparring sessions. This convinced him to enter Meiji University,^[3] and he continued to practice judo at the Kodokan Institute. Kaminaga had several career choices after graduating, but became an employee of Fuji Steel (currently Nippon Steel) at the recommendation of Meiji University alumnus and 1958 World Judo Championships gold medalist Koji Sone.^[3] He finished in second place behind Sone in the 1958 World Championships, and won a then-unprecedented three championships at the All-Japan Judo Championships from 1960–1961 and 1964 to become the top heavyweight judo competitor in Japan along with Isao Inokuma. Inokuma would remain Kaminaga's rival and close friend throughout his life.

Judo became an Olympic sport for the first time in the 1964 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, and Kaminaga entered the competition bearing great expectations as the Japanese representative for the open weight category. However, he suffered a knee ligament injury shortly before the competition, and participated in the tournament hiding this injury.^[3] He reached the Olympic finals on October 23, but was defeated by Dutch judoka Anton Geesink, who pinned Kaminaga with a Kesa-Gatame to become the first non-Japanese judoka to win an Olympic medal in judo. Japan won all of the gold medals in the judo competition that year excluding Kaminaga's participation in the open weight competition, and the Japanese media criticized Kaminaga for failing to follow suit.^[3] Kaminaga retired from competitive judo in 1965 after suffering a detached retina.

Kaminaga become the head coach of the Meiji University judo team in 1968 at the advice of Koji Sone,^[3] where he taught future Olympic gold medalist Haruki Uemura. He also served as a coach of the Japanese judo team for the 1972 Summer Olympics, but resigned from his post at Meiji University after one of his pupils, Masatoshi Shinomaki, lost in the preliminary round of the tournament. He lived as a salaryman afterwards, while continuing his affiliation with judo officials.^[3] He became the head coach for the Japanese Olympic judo team for the 1992 Summer Olympics, but died a year later in 1993 from colon cancer at age 56.^[3]

References

↑ Akio Kaminaga. sports-reference.com
↑ "東京オリンピックから40年". Japanese Olympic Committee.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "プロジェクトX -挑戦者たち「宿命の最強決戦」 -柔道金メダル・師弟の絆-". NHK.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Akio Kaminaga.

Videos of Kaminaga at the Olympics 1964 Tokyo

All-Japan Judo Champions

Men	1930 Kanbe Furusawa 1931 Tatsukuma Ushijima 1932 Tatsukuma Ushijima 1933 Not held 1934 Suekichi Tanaka 1935 Eisaku Iiyama 1936 Isamu Shinbara / Shinkichi Setoguchi 1937 Masahiko Kimura 1938 Masahiko Kimura 1939 Masahiko Kimura 1940 Not held 1941 Iwao Hirose 1942–47 Not held 1948 Yasuichi Matsumoto 1949 Takahiko Ishikawa / Masahiko Kimura 1950 Takahiko Ishikawa 1951 Toshiro Daigo 1952 Yoshihiko Yoshimatsu 1953 Yoshihiko Yoshimatsu 1954 Toshiro Daigo 1955 Yoshihiko Yoshimatsu 1956 Not held 1957 Shokichi Natsui 1958 Koji Sone 1959 Isao Inokuma 1960 Akio Kaminaga 1961 Akio Kaminaga 1962 Yoshinori Takeuchi 1963 Isao Inokuma 1964 Akio Kaminaga 1965 Seiji Sakaguchi 1966 Mitsuo Matsunaga 1967 Isao Okano 1968 Takeshi Matsuzaka 1969 Isao Okano 1970 Masatoshi Shinomaki 1971 Kaneo Iwatsuri 1972 Shinobu Sekine 1973 Haruki Uemura 1974 Nobuyuki Sato 1975 Haruki Uemura 1976 Sumio Endo 1977 Yasuhiro Yamashita 1978 Yasuhiro Yamashita 1979 Yasuhiro Yamashita 1980 Yasuhiro Yamashita 1981 Yasuhiro Yamashita 1982 Yasuhiro Yamashita 1983 Yasuhiro Yamashita 1984 Yasuhiro Yamashita 1985 Yasuhiro Yamashita 1986 Yoshimi Masaki 1987 Yoshimi Masaki 1988 Hitoshi Saito 1989 Naoya Ogawa 1990 Naoya Ogawa 1991 Naoya Ogawa 1992 Naoya Ogawa 1993 Naoya Ogawa 1994 Jun Konno 1995 Naoya Ogawa 1996 Naoya Ogawa 1997 Jun Konno 1998 Shinichi Shinohara 1999 Shinichi Shinohara 2000 Shinichi Shinohara 2001 Kosei Inoue 2002 Kosei Inoue 2003 Kosei Inoue 2004 Keiji Suzuki 2005 Keiji Suzuki 2006 Satoshi Ishii 2007 Keiji Suzuki 2008 Satoshi Ishii 2009 Takamasa Anai 2010 Kazuhiko Takahashi 2011 Keiji Suzuki 2012 Hirotaka Kato 2013 Takamasa Anai 2014 Takeshi Ojitani 2015 Hisayoshi Harasawa 2016 Takeshi Ojitani

Women	1986 Kaori Hachinohe 1987 Yoko Tanabe 1988 Yoko Tanabe 1989 Yoko Tanabe 1990 Yoko Tanabe 1991 Yoko Tanabe 1992 Yoko Tanabe 1993 Noriko Anno 1994 Noriko Anno 1995 Noriko Anno 1996 Noriko Anno 1997 Miho Ninomiya 1998 Miho Ninomiya 1999 Noriko Anno 2000 Mayumi Yamashita 2001 Midori Shintani 2002 Maki Tsukada 2003 Maki Tsukada 2004 Maki Tsukada 2005 Maki Tsukada 2006 Maki Tsukada 2007 Maki Tsukada 2008 Maki Tsukada 2009 Maki Tsukada 2010 Maki Tsukada 2011 Mika Sugimoto 2012 Kanae Yamabe 2013 Akari Ogara 2014 Kanae Yamabe 2015 Megumi Tachimoto 2016 Kanae Yamabe

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