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Making the List: Yoshi Oyakawa

Related Topics: Yoshi Oyakawa, Swimming (sport)

Its still winter…basketball is certainly dominant on our minds. There’s hockey too, and of course wrestling. But shall we jump? Let’s talk swimming.

Yoshi Oyakawa was born August 9, 1933 in Kona, Hawaii. He was a natural swimmer from the beginning according to his parents. He began competitively late for a swimmer – 15 years old. But once he spun on his back in the water, he says at 16, he became unstoppable. He was off to the Olympics at 18.

When he won the 100 meter backstroke at the Helsinki Olympic Games in 1952 he beat Adolph Kiefer’s Olympic record which had stood since 1936.