Makoto Douglas Sakamoto (born April 8, 1947) is a retired Japanese-born American artistic gymnast and coach. He competed at the

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

and

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

with the best individual result of 17th place on parallel bars in 1972. Domestically he won the AAU titles in the all-around and

horizontal bar The horizontal bar, also known as the high bar, is an apparatus used by male gymnasts in artistic gymnastics. It traditionally consists of a cylindrical metal (typically steel) bar that is rigidly held above and parallel to the floor by a syste ...

in 1963, in the all-around in 1964, and in all seven events in 1965. Sakamoto was born in 1947 in

Shinjuku is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative centre, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world (Shinjuku Station) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administration ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Japan, and in 1955 his family moved to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, U.S. After receiving B.A. and M.A. degrees in coaching he worked as assistant coach at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

in 1976–1984. His trainees included

Peter Vidmar Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

and

Tim Daggett Timothy P. Daggett (born May 22, 1962) is a former American gymnast and an Olympic gold medalist. He is a graduate of West Springfield High School and UCLA, who competed in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, along with Bart Conner, Peter Vidmar an ...

. After that he worked for the New South Wales Gymnastics Association in Sydney, Australia in 1984–1987, and between 1987 and 2000 he was head coach at

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

. Sakamoto was assistant coach for the American teams that competed at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

and 1981 and 1983 world championships. He is married to Masako Yoshisa and has two children. In 1986 he was inducted into the U.S. Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sakamoto, Makoto 1947 births Living people Gymnasts at the 1964 Summer Olympics Gymnasts at the 1972 Summer Olympics Olympic gymnasts for the United States American male artistic gymnasts Universiade bronze medalists for the United States Universiade medalists in gymnastics Medalists at the 1965 Summer Universiade USC Trojans athletes