Akinori NAKAYAMA

Akinori Nakayama was the most successful male athlete at the 1968 Olympics, winning four gold medals, one silver and one bronze, yet his performances were somewhat overshadowed by a fellow gymnast, the elegant Věra Čáslavská. Nakayama had first made his mark two years earlier, when he won six medals at the World Championships in Dortmund, including golds in the team all-around, the floor exercise and the horizontal bar. In Mexico, he again joined the victorious Japanese team, with individual titles on the rings, the parallel bars and horizontal bar. Four more world titles followed in 1970 (team, rings, floor and parallel bars), and two Olympic ones in Munich, where he successfully defended his team and rings titles. Of note, Nakayama never won the individual all-around in any of these competition, although he also excelled in the combined event, winning it at the 1969 World Cup and 1965 and 1967 Universiade. Later a vice-president for the Japanese Gymnastics Federation, Nakayama was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2005.