Shohachi Ishii

Shohachi Ishii
Shohachi Ishii in 1956
Personal information
BornSeptember 20, 1926 (1926-09-20)
Tokyo, Japan
DiedJanuary 4, 1980 (1980-01-05) (aged 53)
Alma materChuo University
Sport
SportFreestyle wrestling
Medal record
Men's freestyle wrestling
Representing  Japan
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1952 Helsinki Bantamweight

Shohachi Ishii (石井 庄八, Ishii Shōhachi, September 20, 1926 – January 4, 1980) was a Japanese freestyle wrestler who won a gold medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics. He was the first Japanese gold medalist after World War II, the only Japanese gold medalist at the 1952 Olympics, and one of two Japanese medalists in wrestling at the 1952 Olympics, the other being flyweight Yushu Kitano, who won silver in freestyle.[1]

Ishii took up wrestling because there was no judo club around. He died of kidney cancer, aged 53.[2]

  1. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Shohachi Ishii". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on December 4, 2016. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  2. ^ "石井庄八-敗戦から7年…レスリング界の"求道僧"が快挙" (in Japanese). sanspo.com. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007.