is a retired

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 ...

ese featherweight freestyle wrestler. Between 1966 and 1968 he won all major titles, including gold medals at two world championships, and at the 1966 Asian and 1968 Olympic Games. He was inducted in the Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2007.

Life and career

Kaneko was born in

Ashikaga, Tochigi is a Cities of Japan, city located in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 143,653, in 62,123 households and a population density of 810 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Ashikaga is loc ...

and started wrestling in high school. After graduating from

Senshu University is a private university in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Campuses *Kanda, Tokyo, Kanda Campus (Main campus): 3-8 Kandajimbo-cho, Chiyoda, Tokyo 101-8425 :The Kanda Campus is situated in Jimbocho, a college community in central Tokyo. This urban ca ...

he joined the

Japan Self-Defense Forces The Japan Self-Defense Forces ( ja, 自衛隊, Jieitai; abbreviated JSDF), also informally known as the Japanese Armed Forces, are the unified ''de facto''Since Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution outlaws the formation of armed forces, the ...

. He lost against

Yojiro Uetake is a Japanese wrestler and two-time Olympic champion in freestyle wrestling. He is considered the greatest wrestler in the history of Oklahoma State University, being the only Cowboy wrestler to have gone undefeated for the entirety ...

for the qualification to the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...

in bantamweight. He started

weight training Weight training is a common type of strength training for developing the strength, size of skeletal muscles and maintenance of strength.Keogh, Justin W, and Paul W Winwood. “Report for: The Epidemiology of Injuries Across the Weight-Traini ...

and changed weight classes to featherweight, eventually winning two world championships and the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

. He was considered to be an "unusual" gold medalist, being 28 years old at the time, married, with a child. After retirement, he worked at the self-defense forces, and later became a secretary, and then a security director at

Fuji Television JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba today is a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay, Japan, across the Rainbow Bridge from central Tokyo. Odaiba was initially b ...

References

1940 births Living people Olympic wrestlers for Japan Wrestlers at the 1968 Summer Olympics Japanese male sport wrestlers Olympic gold medalists for Japan Olympic medalists in wrestling Asian Games medalists in wrestling Wrestlers at the 1966 Asian Games Japan Ground Self-Defense Force personnel Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Asian Games gold medalists for Japan Medalists at the 1966 Asian Games World Wrestling Champions {{japan-wrestling-bio-stub