Masao Takemoto

Masao Takemoto
Takemoto at the 1952 Olympics
Personal information
Country represented	Japan
Born	(1919-09-29)September 29, 1919 Hamada, Shimane, Japan
Died	February 2, 2007(2007-02-02) (aged 87) Kanagawa, Shimane, Japan
Height	160 cm (5 ft 3 in)
Weight	56 kg (123 lb)
Discipline	Men's artistic gymnastics
Medal record Olympic Games 1952 Helsinki Vault 1956 Melbourne Team 1956 Melbourne Horizontal bar 1956 Melbourne Parallel bars 1956 Melbourne Rings 1960 Rome Team 1960 Rome Horizontal bar World Championships 1954 Rome Floor 1954 Rome Team 1954 Rome Parallel bars 1958 Moscow Floor 1958 Moscow Team 1958 Moscow Vault 1958 Moscow Horizontal bar

Masao Takemoto (竹本正男, Takemoto Masao, September 29, 1919 – February 2, 2007) was a Japanese artistic gymnast who won two world titles and seven Olympic medals.^[1]

At the 1952 Summer Olympics he won the silver medal in the vault with a score of 19.150, which was 0.050 short of the gold medal.^[1] Two years later he became world champion in the floor exercise, sharing the first placed with Valentin Muratov; he also won a silver medal with the Japanese team and a bronze at the parallel bars.^[2] At the 1956 Summer Olympics Takemoto won three bronze medals: in the horizontal bar, parallel bars and rings; he also received a silver medal as part of the Japanese team.^[1] His main skills were on the floor exercise and he proved it once again at the 1958 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, where he successfully defended his title; he also won silver medals in the vault and team event, as well as a bronze medal in the horizontal bar.^[2] At the 1960 Summer Olympics Takemoto won a team gold medal and placed second in the horizontal bar.^[1]

Takemoto had a degree in physical education from Nippon Sport Science University and later coached the national gymnastics team. In 1997 he was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.^[1][2] He died from cholangiocarcinoma on 2 February 2007 at the age of 87 in Kanagawa.^[3]