Ford Konno

Ford Konno
	Konno at the 1952 Olympics
Personal information
Full name	Ford Hiroshi Konno
National team	United States
Born	January 1, 1933 (age 93); Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, U.S.
Height	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Weight	150 lb (68 kg)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Freestyle
Club	U.S. Army
College team	Ohio State University
Coach	Yoshito Sagawa; Mike Peppe
Medal record
Representing the United States
Olympic Games
Representing Ohio State
NCAA

Ford Hiroshi Konno (Japanese: 紺野裕,^[3] born January 1, 1933) is a Japanese–American former competition swimmer, two-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in three events.

Konno was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. He attended McKinley High School in Honolulu, and swam for the McKinley Tigers high school swim team. He later received an athletic scholarship to attend Ohio State University, where he swam for the Ohio State Buckeyes swimming and diving team under Hall of Fame Coach Mike Peppe in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) competition. Konno set world records of 2:03.9 in the 200-meter and 4:26.7 in the 400-meter freestyle during 1954 college meets.^[4]

Konno won four medals at the 1952 and 1956 Summer Olympics. At the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, Konno won gold medals in the men's 1,500-meter freestyle and the 4×200-meter freestyle relay. His time of 18:30:3 in the 1,500 freestyle was a new Olympic record. He also won a silver medal in the 400-meter freestyle. Four years later at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, he won a silver in the men's 4×200-meter freestyle relay.

After graduating from Ohio State University, Konno worked as a high school teacher and swimming coach on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, and later became division manager for an equity life insurance company. In 1972 he was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame. Earlier he married a fellow 1952 Olympic medalist Evelyn Kawamoto; they have two daughters.^[1]^[2]