Rene CAPO

Rene Capo emigrated from Cuba as a youth and became a high school All-American football (American) player at Hialeah High School in Florida. He then played nose tackle at the University of Minnesota and shared the team record for sacks. But he had begun competing in judo in high school and was twice high school national judo champion (1977 80 kg and Grand Champion, and 1979 93 kg). In addition to his two Olympic appearances, he was twice US Champion, in 1989 at 86 kg and 1991 at 95 kg, and won the 1987 Pacific Rim Championships. He continued to compete, placing fifth in 2008 at the US Championships, but was diagnosed only a few months later with lung cancer, and succumbed to that disease within a year.