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Terry Farnsworth

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Terry Farnsworth
Personal information
National team Canada
Born (1942-08-27) 27 August 1942 (age 82)
Portland, Maine, United States
Alma materChuo University
OccupationJudoka
Height183 cm (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Weight91 kg (201 lb)[1]
Sport
Country Canada
SportJudo
Weight class93 kg (half-heavyweight)
Achievements and titles
National finalsCanadian U-93 kg Champion (1972, 1973)
Medal record
Judo
Representing  Canada
Maccabiah Games
Gold medal – first place 1969 Israel Men's 93 kg
Silver medal – second place 1973 Israel Men's 93 kg

Terry Farnsworth (born 27 August 1942) is a Canadian former Olympic judoka. Born in Portland, Maine, he represented Canada in international judo competitions. He won the Canadian under-93 kg national championship in both 1972 and 1973, and competed in the men's half-heavyweight event at the 1972 Summer Olympics. Farnsworth also won a gold medal at the 1969 Maccabiah Games and a silver medal at the 1973 Maccabiah Games, both held in Israel.

Biography

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Farnsworth was born in Portland, Maine, and is Jewish.[1][2] After graduating high school, he completed two years of a pre-college program in Canada. He then lived in Roppongi, Tokyo, Japan, from the age of 20 to 26, during which he studied at Chuo University.[3][4] He has also lived in Bois-des-Filion, Quebec, Canada.[5]

Judo career

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Farnsworth earned a black belt in judo in Montreal, after which he moved to Tokyo to further his training.[3][6]

At the 1969 Maccabiah Games in Israel, he won a gold medal in the light-heavyweight division.[7][8] He won the under-93 kg category at the 1972 Canadian Judo Championships, held in Halifax.[9][10]

Farnsworth represented Canada in the men's half-heavyweight (under 93 kg) event at the 1972 Summer Olympics, finishing in 7th place.[9][11][12] He defeated Imre Varga of Hungary and José Ibáñez Gómez of Cuba, but was eliminated after losses to eventual bronze medalist Paul Barth and European Judo Champion Helmut Howiller, both from West Germany.[13]

Farnsworth recounted his experience during the Munich massacre at the 1972 Olympics, in which members of the Palestinian militant group Black September infiltrated the Olympic Village:

I was 50 feet away. I saw... the Arab with the mask, standing on the balcony. I saw the guy. I mean, we had to run underneath where the Israelis were, and one of my buddies had an Israeli friend, went to visit him, and he came back at 1:30 in the morning, and the terrorists came in at about 3:00. So he was an hour and a half away from being dead himself. That was horrible. We were 50 feet away from the whole thing. One interesting story was, separating us was the Korean housing, and when it first happened, I walked down to the Korean apartments, and I saw the door open in one apartment. I see a Korean guy sitting in the window with his rifle, facing the Arabs or where the Israelis were held. He told me he was an ex-American Marine, but he was a Korean citizen. He was on the rifle team. He said, “I’m going to get one of those f*cking Arabs!” ... But they came and took his rifle away![3]

In 1973, Farnsworth won the Canadian Championships again in the under-93 kg category, this time in Whitehorse.[9]

He was selected as the flag bearer for Team Canada at the 1973 Maccabiah Games in Israel,[2] where he won a silver medal in the light-heavyweight division, losing in the final to American Olympian Irwin Cohen.[14][15]

Film career

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Farnsworth appeared in several films, including a minor role in Walk, Don't Run (1966), an American comedy starring Cary Grant, and a supporting role in The Drifting Avenger (1968), a Japanese Western filmed in Australia.[3] He also acted in the Japanese tokusatsu science fiction television series Ultraseven (1967–1968).[3]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "Terry Farnsworth". Olympedia.
  2. ^ a b "Markswoman wins five medals". The Canadian Jewish News. 3 August 1973. p. 7.
  3. ^ a b c d e Homenick, Brett (18 February 2016). "From 'Ultra Seven' to The Olympics! Terry Farnsworth on His Acting Career in Japan and Beyond!".
  4. ^ "Black Belt". Active Interest Media, Inc. 25 November 1966 – via Google Books.
  5. ^ "Terry Farnsworth". olympic.ca. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  6. ^ "Memories of Seidokwan". Seidokwan Academy of Judo. 1992.
  7. ^ "Tourney results," Judo Illustrated, Volumes 4–5, 1970.
  8. ^ "The Eight Maccabiah Announces Judo Winners". Black Belt. Active Interest Media, Inc. 25 December 1969 – via Google Books.
  9. ^ a b c "Terry Farnsworth Judoka". JudoInside.
  10. ^ Anthony Diao (11 May 2021). "The Transpacific Judo of Yoshihiro Uchida and Hiroshi Nakamura".
  11. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Terry Farnsworth Olympic Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  12. ^ "Terry Farnsworth". IJF.org.
  13. ^ "Half-Heavyweight (≤93 kilograms), Men". Olympedia.
  14. ^ "U.S., Israel Win 12 Medals Each". The New York Times. 11 July 1973.
  15. ^ Jack Murray (25 December 1973). "US Dominates Judo at Maccabiah Games". Black Belt. Active Interest Media, Inc. – via Google Books.
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