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Yoshi Oyakawa

Yoshi Oyakawa at the Waikiki Natatorium War Memorial near Kaimana Beach
Personal information
Full name	Yoshinobu Oyakawa
Nickname	"Yoshi"
National team	United States
Born	(1933-08-09) August 9, 1933 (age 91) Kona, Territory of Hawaii, U.S.
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Weight	154 lb (70 kg)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Backstroke
Club	Hawaii Swim Club Hilo Aquatic Club
College team	Ohio State University
Coach	Mike Peppe (Ohio State) Charles "Sparky" Kawamoto (Hilo Aquatic Club)
Medal record Men's swimming Representing the  United States Olympic Games 1952 Helsinki 100 m backstroke Representing Ohio State NCAA 1952 Princeton Team event 1952 Princeton 200 yard backstroke 1953 Columbus 100 yard backstroke 1953 Columbus 200 yard backstroke 1953 Columbus 300 yard medley relay 1954 Syracuse Team title 1954 Syracuse 100 yard backstroke 1954 Syracuse 200 yard backstroke 1954 Syracuse 300 yard medley relay 1955 Oxford Team title 1955 Oxford 100 yard backstroke 1955 Oxford 200 yard backstroke 1955 Oxford 300 yard medley relay

Yoshinobu Oyakawa (Japanese: 親川 義信, born August 9, 1933) is an American former competition swimmer, 1952 Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in the 100-meter backstroke. He is considered to be the last of the great "straight-arm-pull" backstrokers. He still holds the world record in this technique.

Oyakawa was born in Kona, Hawaii to the Rev. and Mrs. Edward Oyakawa and raised in Papaikou. He has an older sister, Dorothy, and an older brother, Ensie Michio. Oyakawa may have done his earliest swimming in Pake Pond in Papaikou. He first attended East Honolulu's Kalanianaole High School, known as Kalani High School prior to Hilo High School in the Southeast Central coastal portion of the island of Hawaii. A 1951 graduate, he began competitive swimming as a Sophomore at Hilo High around 1948 under Coach Charles Kiyoishi "Sparky" Kawamoto at the Hilo Aquatic Club. He won his first Hawaiian 100-meter AAU backstroke championship swimming for the Hilo Club in 1950, and repeated in 1951. His 1951 100-meter backstroke time of 1:07.5 in the Hawaiian AAU meet was America's best that year in a long course pool.

College

Beginning in the Fall of 1951, Oyakawa attended Ohio State University under a swimming scholarship, under Head Coach Mike Peppe, along with 1952 Olympic medalist, and former Honolulu's McKinley High School swimmer Ford Konno. While at Ohio State, Oyakawa won six Big Ten, seven NCAA, and nine NAAU championships. After graduating Ohio State in March, 1956, Oyakawa enrolled in the U.S. Air Force.

Olympics

Oyakawa placed fourth in the 200-meter backstroke at the National AAU Indoor Meet. But on July 5, 1952 at the more significant Olympics trials in New York, he swam an Olympic record time of 1:05.7 in the 100-meter backstroke finals, bettering the old record by .2 seconds and finishing ahead of the entire field of American trial competitiors.

Travelling with the U.S. team later in July, he represented the United States at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, where as a strong favorite he won the gold medal in the 100-meter backstroke event, breaking the fifteen-year standing record of American Adolph Kiefer, which had been set in 1936. In a close race, he swam a 1:05.4, finishing .8 seconds ahead of the French team's silver medalist Gilbert Bozon, and 1 second ahead of America's bronze medalist Jack Taylor.

He returned to Olympic competition at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, where he was elected co-captain along with Ford Konno. He finished 8th in the 100-meter backstroke competition.

Coaching

Oyakawa became a teacher and coached swimming at Oak Hills High School from 1960 to 1985. He led Oak Hills to 23 conference championships and was named League Coach of the Year 23 times and Southwest Ohio Swimming Coach of the Year 12 times.

Honors

• Yoshinobu Oyakawa Day proclaimed by Big Island County Chairman James Kealoha on September 12, 1952
• International Swimming Hall of Fame, 1973
• Ohio High School Coach of the Year, 1972
• The Ohio State University Athletics Hall of Fame, 1978
• Hawaiʻi Sports Hall of Fame, 1998
• Oak Hills Athletic Hall of Fame, 2008

See also

• List of members of the International Swimming Hall of Fame
• List of Ohio State University people
• List of Olympic medalists in swimming (men)

References

1. "tida-net.okinawa". Retrieved April 28, 2024.
2. ^ "Yoshi Oyakawa, 1973 ISHOF Honor Swimmer". U.S. Masters Swimming. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
3. ^ "Yoshi Oyakawa, Olympedia Biography". www.olympedia.com. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
4. ^ Nakaji, Bert, "Oyakawa First Big Islander to Win Olympic Games Title", Honolulu Star Bulletin, Honolulu, Hawaii, 2 August 1952, pg. 7
5. ^ "Yoshi Oyakawa (USA)". ISHOF.org. International Swimming Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on February 3, 2018. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
6. ^ Luna, Martha (January 16, 1956). "Oyakawa Will Be Bidding for Olympic Win Again". Hawaii Tribune-Herald.
7. "First Athlete-Coach Team is Selected in Annual Contest", Hilo Tribune-Herald, Hilo, Hawaii, 31 December 1952, pg. 9
8. "Oyakawa Cops Olympic Backstroke Finals in Record 1:05.7", Honolulu Star Bulletin, Honolulu, Hawaii, 5 July 1952, pg. 6
9. Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Athletes, Yoshi Oyakawa. Retrieved October 4, 2012.
10. "Oyakawa, Yoshinobu | Hawaiʻi Sports Hall of Fame". www.hawaiisportshalloffame.com. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
11. "Hawaii Swimming Legacy: Yoshinobu Oyakawa". Retrieved May 4, 2020.
12. ^ "Oak Hills Athletic Hall of Fame Information, 2005-2015" (PDF). Retrieved February 18, 2018.
13. "Oyakawa Day Scheduled by Hiloites Today". The Honolulu Advertiser. September 12, 1952.
14. "tBBC - Ten questions With Yoshi Oyakawa". BuckeyePlanet. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
15. "Gold-en Days of Summer Olympics past: Part 2". From Woody's Couch. August 2, 2012. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
16. "Inductees by Class Year | Hawaiʻi Sports Hall of Fame". www.hawaiisportshalloffame.com. Archived from the original on October 21, 2019. Retrieved February 19, 2018.

External links

• Yoshi Oyakawa at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
• Yoshi Oyakawa (USA) – Honor Swimmer – International Swimming Hall of Fame at the Wayback Machine (archived February 3, 2018)

v t e 1952 USA Olympic swimming team
Men's Team	Dick Cleveland Frank Dooley Ronald Gora Jerry Holan Burwell Jones Ford Konno Jimmy McLane Wayne Moore Monte Nitzkowski Yoshi Oyakawa Clarke Scholes Don Sheff Allen Stack Bowen Stassforth Jack Taylor Wally Wolf Bill Woolsey
Women's Team	Jody Alderson Julia Cornell Mary Freeman Carolyn Green Evelyn Kawamoto Jackie LaVine Delia Meulenkamp Coralie O'Connor Gail Peters Judith Roberts Della Sehorn Barbara Stark Marilee Stepan

v t e 1956 USA Olympic swimming team
Men's Team	George Breen Dick Hanley Robert Hughes Tim Jecko Ford Konno Frank McKinney Jack Nelson George Onekea Yoshi Oyakawa Reid Patterson David Radcliff Sonny Tanabe Albert Wiggins Bill Woolsey William Yorzyk
Women's Team	Betty Brey Carin Cone Susan Gray Kay Knapp Shelley Mann Mary Anne Marchino Maureen Murphy Nancy Ramey Joan Rosazza Sylvia Ruuska Mary Sears Marley Shriver Nancy Simons

• 1933 births
• Living people
• American male backstroke swimmers
• American military personnel of Japanese descent
• Hawaii people of Japanese descent
• Hawaii people of Okinawan descent
• American sportspeople of Japanese descent
• World record setters in swimming
• Ohio State Buckeyes men's swimmers
• Olympic gold medalists for the United States in swimming
• Swimmers from Cincinnati
• Swimmers from Hawaii
• Swimmers at the 1952 Summer Olympics
• Swimmers at the 1956 Summer Olympics
• Medalists at the 1952 Summer Olympics
• American swimming coaches
• American educators of Japanese descent
• 20th-century American sportsmen
• High school swimming coaches in the United States