Sawao Kato

Sawao Katō, born October 11, 1946, in Niigata Prefecture, is a retired Japanese gymnast who ranks among the most decorated Olympians ever. Over three Olympic Games from 1968 to 1976, he collected twelve medals, eight of them gold—a tally that makes him Japan’s all-time leader in Olympic golds.

Katō studied at Tokyo Kyoiku University and made his Olympic debut in 1968 alongside his older brother Takeshi. That year, the brothers helped Japan win the team event, while Sawao added golds in the all-around and floor exercise, plus a bronze on rings. At the 1972 Olympics, the Japanese men’s team dominated, winning 15 medals total across all events. Katō earned gold in the all-around and parallel bars, and silver on the horizontal bar and pommel horse. In 1976, he sought a third consecutive all-around gold—a feat never achieved before—but fell to Soviet gymnast Nikolai Andrianov. The team competition was tight, but Japan edged the Soviets by 0.4 points to claim its fifth straight Olympic title. Katō closed his career by defending his parallel bars gold.

He is one of only a handful of athletes with eight or more Olympic golds. Among male gymnasts, his eight golds and twelve total medals are bested only by Nikolai Andrianov (seven gold, 15 total), Boris Shakhlin (seven gold, 13 total), and Takashi Ono (five gold, 13 total). Katō holds the most Olympic golds of any Japanese athlete and ranks second behind Ono in total medals. In 2001, he entered the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. As of 2010, he was a professor emeritus at the University of Tsukuba. On May 14, 2021, asteroid 43212 Katosawao, discovered in 2000 by the LINEAR survey, was named in his honor.