Tetsuo Hamuro

Champion Japanese breaststroke swimmer Tetsuo Hamuro was born on September 7, 1917 in Fukuoka, Japan. Hamuro set a world record in the 200 meter breaststroke in 1935. The following year Tetsuo set a new Olympic record and won the gold medal in the 200 meter breaststroke at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany. Hamuro not only went on to win ten national championship breaststroke titles in his native Japan, but also never lost a race between the years 1935 and 1940. Tetsuo became a sports journalist for the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper after World War II broke out. Hamuro was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1990. Moreover, his wife was also a Masters World Champion swimmer. Tetsuo died at age 88 on October 30, 2005 in Takaishi, Osaka, Japan.