06. Februar 2007  
Tokyo / Japan  
Artistic Gymnastics

Olympic Champion Masao Takemoto died February 2

Masao TAKEMOTO (JPN)
(photo: IGHOF, 1997)

Masao Takemoto, a gold medallist in Japan's men's team gymnastics title at the 1960 Rome Olympics, died of bile duct cancer at the age of 87 Friday, February 2 his family said Monday.
Takemoto competed in three consecutive Olympics from the 1952 Helsinki Games and helped capture a gold medal in the men's team competition in Rome in 1960 and  at the age of 41 he placed fifth (tie) all-around, second on high bar, there.
He later worked as a coach at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, the 1972 Munich Olympics ....

.... and the 1976 Montreal Olympics and contributed to guiding Japan to 10 straight titles at the Olympics and world championships.
In 1997, Takemoto became the first Japanese gymnast to enter the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.