Haruhiro Yamashita at the Games in Tokyo 1964 – da:mainichi.jp
Article by Giovanni Manenti
In twenty years of dominance in the male field in Artistic Gymnastics – which saw him win, between the editions of Rome 1960 and Montreal 1976, as many as 23 of the total 33 Gold Medals won at the Games to date – the Japan has two gaps in individual specialties, the first of which is the Pommel Horse.where none of its representatives have ever managed to climb onto the podium, boasting only four Olympic silver medals…
The second is the Vaulting, where the loot, although not so miserable, is still very poor, given that it consists of only two victorieswith the first to put the Gold around his neck being the “legendary” Takashi Ono, thanks to her success at the 1960 Rome Games, even though he had to share the top step of the podium with the Soviet Boris Shakhlin.
To give hope to this specialty for the Japanese team, provides the protagonist of our current history, albeit with a rather limited period of activity, which saw him excel in this very exercise, both at Olympic and World level, having also contributed to the successes of their country in the respective General Team Competitions …
Haruhiro Yamashita was born on November 11, 1938 in Uwajima, Shikoku Prefecture. He completed his studies, graduating in 1961 at the “Nippon Sport Science University” of Yokohama, and then specialized in the United States, where in the same year he took part in the AAU Championships placing fifth in the Individual All-Around, third on Parallel Bars and fifth in both Floor Exercise and Vault.
The turning point year is the following one as the no longer very young Haruhiro Places Second in Individual All-Around and First on Vault in Japan-West Germany Matchwhich guarantees him selection for the World Championships to be held in Prague at the beginning of July 1962 …
In Czechoslovakia, Yamashita contributes to the title in the All-Around Team Competition, which saw Japan prevail (574.650 points to 573.150) over the Soviet Unionin addition to finishing seventh in the Individual Competition, won by Yuri Titov ahead of (115.650 to 115.500) Yukio Endo.
Qualified for the Specialty finals in Vault, Floor Exercise and Parallel BarsYamashita stops at the edge of the podium in these last two, fourth in the Floor Exercise with 19.300 points in the competition that saw the first step of the podium shared by his compatriots Endo and Noboyuki Ahara at 19,500 while at On parallel bars her score of 19.375 is not enough to medal, with Endo completing the podium with 19.500. with the world title going to Yugoslavian Miroslav Cerar ahead (19.625 to 19.600) of the eternal Shakhlin …
It remains the Vault, a specialty that saw the 22-year-old from Uwajima awarded by the Jury with 19.350, not enough to guarantee him first place, as he was only surpassed by the home gymnast Premsyl Krbecwhose exercise is valued at 19,550.
A disappointment for which Yamashita had the opportunity to make up for two years later on the occasion of the Olympics held in Tokyo from 18 to 23 October 1964, first providing its contribution to Japan’s Gold in the All-Around Team Competition, with the Team of the Rising Sun ahead (577.95 points to 575.45) of the “Soviet battleship”.
He also performed well in the Individual Competition – where He finished sixth in the test won by Endo with 115.95 points compared to a trio consisting of compatriot Shuji Ysurumi and the Soviets Shakhlin and Viktor Lisitsky – Yamashita earns access to the Vault and Pommel Horse Specialty Finals …
To this last tool, where there is a designated winner in the figure of the Yugoslavian Cerar – capable of winning two Olympic gold medals and three world titles in this specialty in his career – Yamashita enters the final with the fourth best score of 9.575 resulting from the qualifications, position confirmed despite his exercise getting 9,500 which allows him to overtake his compatriot Mitsukuri Takashi who preceded him in the rankings, only to be overtaken by the Soviet Yuri Tsapenko who, having obtained 9.650 from the Jury, snatches the bronze from him (19.200 to 19.075), while Tsurumi places himself behind the invincible Cerar (19.535 to 19.325).
And “subscription” to the fourth place that Yamashita disproves when he presents himself at the Final of the Vault, where she started with the advantage of the best score of 9.750 obtained in qualification, tied with Lisitsky and just 0.050 thousandths of a margin on Endo, who however has too much uncertainty to slip to sixth position …
The only Soviet remains to block the race for Gold for the now almost 26-year-old Haruhiro, but the matter ends when the home athlete performs an exercise bordering on perfection, awarded by the Judges with 9.850 and thus bringing the total to a wide margin (19.600 to 19.326) over Lisitsky, with the podium completed by Finnish Hannu Rantakari.
Yamashita’s is the third gold medal in this specialty for Japanese gymnasts, in addition to Endo’s on the parallel bars and Takuji Hayata’s on the rings, with the athlete from Uwajima getting married, conclusion of which he decides to change his surname from Yamashita to Matsuda, adopting the one of his aunt who had taken care of him when he was a child…
It is therefore with his new identity that Yamashita/Matsuda ends his career by taking part in the World Championship held in Dortmund in 1966 and which sees him once again contributing to repeat the title of Prague in the All-Around Team Competitionstill having the upper hand (575.150 to 570.900) over the Soviet Union, while in the Individual Competition he finished no better than tenth, the worst of his team.
This determines for Matsuda the qualification to only one specialty Final, namely Vaulting, where however he made the most of the only chance in his favor, showing up with the best score of 9.75 coming from the qualifications…
And, despite performing not the best exercise of his career (scored 9.675), the total of 19.425 is still enough to precede his compatriot Takeshi Kator which concludes at 19.325 with the podium entirely Japanese thanks to the bronze awarded to Akinori Nakayama.
After finishing his competitive career, Matsuda remained in the world of artistic gymnastics, first as assistant to the US Coach Roger Council at the “Indiana State University” and so how coach of the Japanese team at the 1976 Montreal Games, where the star of the 23-year-old Soviet champion Nikolai Andrianov shines, before taking on the role of teacher at the “Nippon Sport Science University” where he graduated …
For his services to Gymnastics, Yamasgita/Matsuda was inducted into the “International Gymnastics Hall of Fame”, in addition to being awarded honorary citizenship by his native Uwajima …
There is only one “ leftpiccolo” particular, that is to say that Almost 60 years have passed since that triumph in Tokyo and Japan is still waiting to celebrate another Olympic Gold in Vaultingso that there are many who are wondering when this might happen…
2024-07-03 19:04:38
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