Tommy Kono Is Dead
By vishwa on Inspiration, Training
April 26, 2016
Tommy Kono is a name most of you would not be familiar. He died at the ripe old age of 85, April 24th 2016. I heard his name when I was engrossed reading the books of Brooks Kubik. The famed Brooks is the author of the renowned book titled Dinosaur training. I am an avid fan of his style of workouts and even now borrow several of his workout ideas. Moreover, I had even bought a T shirt and a hoodie by his company where dinosaur training is printed boldly. I no more possess the T shirt, as it is worn out, but I still own the hoodie.
Brooks respects and immortalizes Tommy immensely and rightly so. Moreover, tommy’s story is equally inspiring. Tommy was born in California on June 27th, 1930. He was sick as a child, for he was severely asthmatic. Fortunately, he was introduced to weightlifting by his neighbors. Although he was deployed into the U.S. army due to the Korean War, he avoided that due to his potential as an Olympic weightlifter.
What followed was a flood of awards. Tommy was a gold medalist at both the 1952 Summer Olympics and 1956 Summer Olympics, and a silver medalist at the 1960 Summer Olympics. He won the World Weightlifting Championships six consecutive times. He also was a successful bodybuilder winning the Mr. Universe titles in 1954, 1955, 1957 and 1961.
On a similar note, I am proud to own tommy kono’s knee bands which are one of a kind. I believe those knee bands are a must for people who want to squat and deadlift heavy. Within a few minutes of wearing the knee bands your knees sweat like never before. The warmth it provides to the knee makes you to squat and deadlift better.
I also own tommy Kono’s book titled Weightlifting, Olympic Style. Champ, you will be missed. However, your book, the books of Brook’s where your name is commemorated, and the Tommy Kono—TK knee band I own will never make me to forget you.