was a Japanese swimmer. He is credited with the invention of the modern

butterfly stroke The butterfly (colloquially shortened to fly) is a List of swimming styles, swimming stroke swum on the chest, with both arms moving symmetrically, accompanied by the butterfly kick (also known as the "dolphin kick"). While other styles like ...

. Although not the first to swim the butterfly-breaststroke, Nagasawa was the first to use a dolphin kick, where the legs stayed together and moved simultaneously up then down.

Biography

Nagasawa started as a backstroke swimmer, aged 11, and after World War II changed first to long-distance freestyle and then to breaststroke. By the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...

he suffered from

arthritis Arthritis is a term often used to mean any disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, swelling, and decreased range of motion of the affected joints. In som ...

on both knees, and finished only sixth in the 200 m breaststroke. Because of his knee problems, he changed from the frog kick to the dolphin kick in 1954, and by 1956 set five world records in the 200 m and 220 yd butterfly. In 1956 he won the USA Swimming Prize and in 1954 the Japan Sport Award. He was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1993 and later in life became an Olympic National Coach. Nagasawa died on March 23, 2010, from throat cancer at the age of 78.

References

1932 births 2010 deaths Deaths from esophageal cancer in Japan Olympic swimmers for Japan Swimmers at the 1952 Summer Olympics Japanese male butterfly swimmers Sportspeople from Shizuoka Prefecture {{Japan-swimming-bio-stub

Biography

See also

References