Yojiro Uetake


Yojiro Uetake is a Japanese wrestler and Olympic champion in Freestyle wrestling. He was introduced into the FILA Hall of Fame in 2005. He is considered the greatest wrestler in the history of Oklahoma State University, being the only Cowboy to have gone undefeated for the entirety of his college career. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame in 2015.

Life and career

Uetake had originally hoped to learn judo, but was considered too light. He became a high school wrestling champion. The commissioner of the Japanese Wrestling Federation sent Uetake to the Oklahoma State University as a promise to head coach Myron Roderick. Roderick considered him "by far the best wrestler he ever saw or coached". Later he went back to Japan as a coach.

Olympics

Uetake competed at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo where he received a gold medal in Freestyle wrestling, the bantamweight class.
He also received a gold medal in 1968. Despite suffering a separated shoulder in the second round while trailing 0-2, Uetake managed to even the score at 2-2 and end up with the gold medal in the 57 kg division.