Kiyoko Ono

Kiyoko Ono
Personal information
Country represented Japan
Born(1936-02-04)4 February 1936
Iwanuma, Miyagi, Empire of Japan
Died13 March 2021(2021-03-13) (aged 85)
Tokyo, Japan
Height1.57 m (5 ft 2 in)
Weight60 kg (132 lb)
DisciplineWomen's artistic gymnastics
Medal record
Representing  Japan
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 1964 Tokyo Team
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place 1962 Prague Team

Kiyoko Ono (小野 清子, Ono Kiyoko, 4 February 1936 – 13 March 2021) was a Japanese politician and gymnast. She competed at the 1960 and 1964 Olympics and won a team bronze medal in 1964.

Early life

Ono was born on 4 February 1936.[1] Her father died when she was three months old. In 1958, she graduated from the Tokyo University of Education and married Takashi Ono, a fellow Olympic gymnast. They have two sons and three daughters; the first two children were born between 1961 and 1963 while both parents were actively competing.[2][3]

Athletic career

Ono represented Japan in gymnastics at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome and in the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. During the latter competition, the team won the bronze, the only Olympic medal that the Japanese women's gymnastics team had won.[4][5]

Kiyoko Ono in the 1964 Olympics

Political career

Ono won the 1986 election and became a member of the House of Councillors for the Liberal Democratic Party between 1986 and 2007.[4] She was a member of the committee on social and labour affairs and the committee on the budget.[1] In 2003, she headed the National Safety Commission, the first woman to hold the position.[5]

Ono was affiliated with the openly revisionist organization Nippon Kaigi.[6][better source needed]

Later life and death

Ono became the first female vice president of the Japanese Olympic Committee and director of the Japan Sport Council. She worked to create the country's Toto soccer lottery.[5] She was awarded an Olympic Order award from the International Olympic Committee in 2016.[5][7]

On 13 March 2021, Ono died suddenly of complications from COVID-19 at the age of 85 while she was hospitalized for a bone fracture.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b Dolling, Yolanda, ed. (1991). Who's who of women in world politics (1st ed.). London: Bowker-Saur. p. 177. ISBN 0-86291-627-5. OCLC 24380132.
  2. ^ 第1章　体操との出会い. Japanese Olympic Committee (interview in Japanese)
  3. ^ 読売新聞大阪本社運動部 (1996). ザ・ヒーロー戦後スポーツの40人 (in Japanese). 読売新聞. ISBN 4-643-96076-0.
  4. ^ a b Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Kiyoko Ono". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020.
  5. ^ a b c d "Kiyoko Ono, Tokyo Olympic medal-winning women's gymnast, dies at 85". The Japan Times. 19 March 2021. Archived from the original on 16 March 2023. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
  6. ^ Nippon Kaigi website
  7. ^ "Two Japanese awarded prestigious Olympic Order". The Japan Times. 20 October 2016. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
  8. ^ "死去の小野清子さん、骨折入院中にコロナ感染し急変" [Kiyoko Ono, who died, suffered a sudden change due to COVID-19 infection while hospitalized for a fracture]. Nikkan Sports (in Japanese). 18 March 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
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