Terry Farnsworth (born 27 August 1942) is a Canadian former Olympic

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...

ka. He won a Canadian national judo championship in 1972 and 1973, competed at the

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. ...

, and won a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

at the 1969 Maccabiah Games and a

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

at the 1973 Maccabiah Games in Israel.

Biography

Farnsworth was born in

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropol ...

, and is Jewish. He graduated high school and attended two years of a pre-college program in Canada, and then lived in

Roppongi is a district of Minato, Tokyo, Japan, famous for the affluent Roppongi Hills development area and popular night club scene. A few foreign embassies are located near Roppongi, and the night life is popular with locals and foreigners alike. It is ...

, Tokyo, Japan, from the ages of 20 to 26 years old. There, he studied at

Chuo University , commonly referred to as or , is a private flagship research university in Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1885 as Igirisu Hōritsu Gakkō (the English Law School), Chuo is one of the oldest and most prestigious institutions in the country. The univer ...

. He has lived in

Bois-des-Filion Bois-des-Filion is an off-island suburb of Montreal, located in Quebec, Canada, to the north of Montreal. Historically, hundreds of families annually travelled to this region seasonally to experience the magnificent maple forests; however the ...

, Canada.

Judo career

Farnsworth earned a black belt in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, and then moved to Tokyo to practice judo. At the 1969 Maccabiah Games in Israel, Farnsworth won a gold medal in the light-heavyweight class. He won the 1972 Canadian Championships U-93 in Halifax, Canada. Farnsworth competed in the men's half-heavyweight event at the

, coming in 7th. He defeated

Imre Varga Imre Varga (1 November 1923 – 9 December 2019) was a Hungarian sculptor, painter, designer and graphic artist. He was regarded as one of Hungary's most important living artists, and he has been called one of the "most skilled sculptors in H ...

(Hungary) and

José Ibáñez Gómez José Ibañez Gómez (born September 28, 1951) is a retired competitive judoka from Cuba, who represented his native country at two consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1972 in Munich, West Germany, where he was defeated by Canadian Terry F ...

(Cuba), but lost to eventual bronze medal winner Paul Barth (Germany) and European Judo Champion Helmut Howiller (Germany). He described his experience during the

Munich Massacre The Munich massacre was a terrorist attack carried out during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, by eight members of the Palestinian people, Palestinian militant organization Black September Organization, Black September, who i ...

at the 1972 Olympics by members of the

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

terrorist group

Black September Black September ( ar, أيلول الأسود; ''Aylūl Al-Aswad''), also known as the Jordanian Civil War, was a conflict fought in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan between the Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF), under the leadership of King Hussein ...

, who had infiltrated the Olympic Village:

I was 50 feet away. I saw ... the Arab with the mask, standing on the balcony. I saw the guy. I mean, we had to run underneath where the Israelis were, and one of my buddies had an Israeli friend, went to visit him, and he came back at 1:30 in the morning, and the terrorists came in at about 3:00. So he was an hour and a half away from being dead himself. That was horrible. We were 50 feet away from the whole thing. One interesting story was, separating us was the Korean housing, and when it first happened, I walked down to the Korean apartments, and I saw the door open in one apartment. I see a Korean guy sitting in the window with his rifle, facing the Arabs or where the Israelis were held. He told me he was an ex-American Marine, but he was a Korean citizen. He was on the rifle team. He said, “I’m going to get one of those f*cking Arabs!” ... But they came and took his rifle away!

Farnsworth won the 1973 Canadian Championships U-93 in

Whitehorse Whitehorse () is the capital of Yukon, and the largest city in Northern Canada. It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1426 (Historic Mile 918) on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas ...

, Canada. At the 1973 Maccabiah Games in Israel, Farnsworth was the

flag carrier A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by the government for international operations. Hist ...

for Team Canada. He won a

in the light-heavyweight competition, losing in the finals to American Olympian

Irwin Cohen Irwin Lee Cohen (January 21, 1952 – August 27, 2012) was an American judoka who represented the United States at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany. He won a gold medal at the 1973 Maccabiah Games in Israel, and a silver medal at the ...

Film career

Farnsworth had roles in a few movies, including a small part in ''

Walk, Don't Run ''Walk, Don't Run'' is a 1966 American comedy film directed by Charles Walters and starring Cary Grant, Samantha Eggar, and Jim Hutton. The film, which was Grant's last film role, is set during the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. It is a remake o ...

'' (1966), an American comedy starring

Cary Grant Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one o ...

, and a part in '' The Drifting Avenger'' (1968), a Japanese Western film shot in Australia. He also acted in the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

tokusatsu is a Japanese term for live action film or television drama that makes heavy use of practical special effects. ''Tokusatsu'' entertainment mainly refers to science fiction, War film, war, fantasy, or Horror film, horror media featuring such te ...

'' science fiction television series ''

Ultraseven is a List of Japanese television series, Japanese ''tokusatsu'' Science fiction on television, science fiction television series created by Eiji Tsuburaya. It is the third installment in the Ultra Series and was produced by Tsuburaya Productions ...

'' (1967-68).

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Farnsworth, Terry 1942 births Living people Canadian male judoka Chuo University alumni Competitors at the 1969 Maccabiah Games Competitors at the 1973 Maccabiah Games Jewish martial artists Jewish Canadian sportspeople Jews from Quebec Judoka at the 1972 Summer Olympics Maccabiah Games medalists in judo Maccabiah Games gold medalists for Canada Maccabiah Games silver medalists for Canada Male actors from Portland, Maine Olympic judoka of Canada People from Minato Sportspeople from Portland, Maine Sportspeople from Quebec 20th-century Canadian people 21st-century Canadian people