90-Year-Old Bodybuilder Wins Division in Japan
Japanese bodybuilder Toshisuke Kanazawa has spent nearly seven decades around the sport, and he is still collecting victories at 90 years old.
Kanazawa won the 85-and-over category at an annual veteran bodybuilding competition held in Hiroshima, Japan. Even more remarkably, Kanazawa celebrated his 90th birthday just one day before taking the stage.
Approximately 200 bodybuilders between the ages of 41 and 90 participated in 13 different categories at the competition. Kanazawa faced six other competitors in the 85-and-over division.
During the preliminary round, competitors performed a mandatory posing routine together before the finalists returned for individual one-minute free-posing routines. The crowd roared for Kanazawa as he was announced the winner.
Afterward, the 90-year-old made it clear that he has no intention of treating the victory as a farewell performance. Kanazawa said he plans to continue pursuing world records.
Toshisuke Kanazawa Was Born Before World War II
Putting Kanazawa’s age into historical perspective makes his continued bodybuilding career even more remarkable.
Kanazawa was born in August 1936. That was three years before the beginning of World War II in Europe and more than five years before the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Kanazawa was only five years old at the time.
Nearly 85 years after Pearl Harbor, he is still stepping onto bodybuilding stages.
Kanazawa’s connection to bodybuilding itself goes back almost as far. He began bodybuilding in his 20s after previously competing as a 1,500-meter swimmer. According to the Hiroshima Training Center, where Kanazawa serves as chairman, he initially used bodybuilding as supplementary training before becoming fascinated with building his physique.
He quickly developed into one of Japan’s top competitors.
Kanazawa placed third at Mr. Japan in 1958 and second in 1959 before winning the championship in 1960. He captured Mr. Japan for a second time in 1963 and finished runner-up the following year.
His international career also included a fourth-place finish at the 1967 IFBB Universe competition.
Kanazawa Returned To Bodybuilding At 50
Kanazawa eventually stepped away from competition in his 30s, but his bodybuilding story was far from finished.
He returned to serious training around the age of 50. Kanazawa has previously explained that his wife’s health played a role in motivating his comeback. He wanted to improve himself and provide encouragement to her by demonstrating what could still be accomplished through training.
That comeback ultimately lasted decades.
At 86, Kanazawa competed at the 2022 IFBB World Men’s Bodybuilding Championships in Spain, where official results listed him at 60.8 kilograms, or approximately 134 pounds. He finished 12th in the Masters 60-and-over category, competing against athletes who were decades younger than him.
Kanazawa had previously said that one of his goals was to continue competing until he reached 90 years old. He has now not only reached that milestone, but celebrated it by winning.
Still Chasing Records At 90
Longevity has become an increasingly prominent topic throughout fitness and bodybuilding, but few athletes can offer an example quite like Kanazawa.
His first recorded Mr. Japan appearance came in 1958. Dwight D. Eisenhower was president of the United States, Elvis Presley had only recently become an international superstar, and Arnold Schwarzenegger was an 11-year-old boy.
Sixty-eight years later, Kanazawa is still competing.
Image embed via Instagram @toshisuke.kanazawa
