Tadayoshi Yokota

Tadayoshi Yokota was a Japanese volleyball player who won Olympic gold and silver and three golds at the Asian Games. Yokota, Seiji Oko, and Jungo Morita were known as the Big Three in the sport in Japan.

Yokota was a student at Chuo University when he was selected to play for the national team. In 1966 he won his first of three gold medals at the Asian Games when Japan went undefeated in the tournament in Bangkok. Two years later Yokota was part of the Japanese team that won silver at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.

In 1970 Yokota went to work for the Panasonic Holdings Corp where he joined the company’s volleyball team. At the 1972 München Olympics Japan won the gold medal with victory against East Germany in the final. Yokota also played in the tournament at the 1976 Montréal Olympics where Japan just missed out on a medal after finishing in fourth place. After his retirement from playing Yokota worked as a coach, including a spell with the national women’s team in 1994 and 1995.