Osamu Watanabe

Japanese wrestlers (1940–2022)

渡辺長武 · 渡邊長武 · 와타나베 오사무

Born

21 October 1940, Wassamu

Died

1 October 2022, Tokyo

Citizenship

Japan, Empire of Japan

Sport

amateur wrestling, freestyle wrestling

Occupation

amateur wrestler

Height

160 cm (5 ft 3 in)

Weight

65 kg (143 lb)

Osamu Watanabe (渡辺 長武, Watanabe Osamu; October 21, 1940 – October 1, 2022) was a Japanese freestyle wrestler. In 1962 (Toledo, Ohio), he debuted internationally and was the reigning world champion, when he capped off his career with a gold medal for Japan in freestyle wrestling at the 1964 Olympics, retiring from competition shortly afterwards as the only undefeated Olympic champion to date at 189–0. He is considered one of the best wrestlers in Olympic history.

In the early 2000s Watanabe resumed competing internationally in the masters category. He died of a heart attack on October 1, 2022.

Competitions

Awards and honours

• Medal with Purple Ribbon 2004

External links

• Wikipedia
• Wikidata

Facts from Wikidata Q346527 (CC0); quoted introduction from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.

Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.