is a retired amateur Japanese freestyle wrestler, who competed in the men's light heavyweight category. He won two bronze medals in both freestyle and Greco-Roman at the

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

(1994 and 1998), and then represented his nation

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in two editions of the Olympic Games (1996 and 2004). Having worked as a

physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorati ...

teacher at Akita Commercial High School, Yokoyama also trained as part of the school's wrestling squad under his personal coach Katsuhiko Saito. When Japan hosted the

1994 Asian Games The 1994 Asian Games ( ja, 1994年アジア競技大会, ''Senkyūhyakukyūjūyon-nen Ajia kyōgi taikai''), also known as the XII Asiad and the 12th Asian Games ( ja, 第12回アジア競技大会, Daijūni-kai Ajia kyōgi taikai), were held from ...

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...

, Yokoyama enchanted the home crowd inside Higashi Stadium by defeating South Korea's Yang Hyun-Mo for a bronze medal in the 82-kg division. The following year, he placed eleventh at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

, and then rounded out the fourth spot in the same class at the 1996 Asian Wrestling Championships in

Hangzhou, China Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...

. Yokoyama entered the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

on his major debut in the men's 82 kg class. He pinned Romania's

Nicolae Ghiţă Nicolae may refer to: * Nicolae (name), a Romanian name * ''Nicolae'' (novel), a 1997 novel See also *Nicolai (disambiguation) *Nicolao Nicolao is an Italian given name and a surname. It may refer to the following: Given name *Nicolao Civitali ...

in his opening bout, but suffered a stunning 4–2 upset from his rival Yang Hyun-Mo in the second round. Yokoyama lost a chance to dismantle Turkey's Sabahattin Öztürk for a victory in the third round repechage 1–7, dropping him to eleventh spot. Shortly after the Games, Yokoyama turned his focus to

Greco-Roman wrestling Greco-Roman (American English), Graeco-Roman (British English), classic wrestling (Euro English) or French wrestling (in Russia until 1948) is a style of wrestling that is practiced worldwide. Greco-Roman wrestling was included in the first mod ...

, and proved particularly successful with a bronze medal effort in the same category at the

1998 Asian Games The 1998 Asian Games (), officially known as the 13th Asian Games and the XIII Asiad, was an Asian multi-sport event celebrated in Bangkok, Thailand from December 6 to 20, 1998, with 377 events in 36 sports and disciplines participated by 6,554 ...

Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated population ...

, outclassing Iran's Behrouz Jamshidi in the process. He also sought his bid to compete for the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, but missed a spot from the Olympic Tournament. Yokoyama made his early retirement in 2000, but came back from the sport three years later to further concentrate on his

freestyle wrestling Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling originated from Great Britain and the United States. Along with Greco-Roman, it is one of the two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic Games. American high school and men's college wrestling ...

career. Eight years after his first Olympics, Yokoyama qualified for his second Japanese squad, as a 33-year-old veteran, in the men's 84 kg class at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. Earlier in the process, he guaranteed a spot on the Japanese team by placing second from the Olympic Qualification Tournament in

Bratislava, Slovakia Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approximately 140% of ...

. He lost his opening match 1–5 to Iran's

Majid Khodaei Majid Khodaei ( fa, مجید خدایی, born 26 August 1978 in Mashhad) is an Iranian former wrestler. Other Tournaments He participated at the following other tournaments: *2001 World Wrestling Championships The following is the f ...

, but bounced back to hold India's Anuj Kumar down the mat with 8–11 decision to close the prelim pool. Finishing second in the pool and tenth overall, Yokoyama failed to advance further into the quarterfinals.

References

External links

Profile – International Wrestling Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yokoyama, Hidekazu 1971 births Living people Olympic wrestlers for Japan Wrestlers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Japanese male sport wrestlers Wrestlers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Asian Games medalists in wrestling Wrestlers at the 1994 Asian Games Wrestlers at the 1998 Asian Games Sportspeople from Akita Prefecture Asian Games bronze medalists for Japan Medalists at the 1994 Asian Games Medalists at the 1998 Asian Games 20th-century Japanese people 21st-century Japanese people