GAJDOŠ A.: SHORT HISTORICAL NOTES XXV Vol. 14 Issue 3: 449-451 Science of Gymnastics Journal 449 Science of Gymnastics Journal SHORT HISTORICAL NOTES XXV  Anton Gajdoš, Bratislava, Slovakia     Ph.D. Anton Gajdoš born on 1.6.1940 in Dubriniči (today Ukraine) lives most of his life in Bratislava (ex TCH, nowadays SVK). He comes from gymnastics family (his brother Pavel have world championship medals) and he devoted his life to gymnastics. His last achievement is establishment of Narodna encyklopedia športu Slovenska (www.sportency.sk). Among his passion is collecting photos and signatures of gymnasts. As we tend to forget old champions and important gymnasts, judges and coaches, we decided to publish part of his archive under title Short historical notes. All information on these pages is from Anton’s archives and collected through years. Short historical Notes XXIII were written in collaboration with Michal Bábela, PhD. Shigeru KASAMATSU (July, 16, 1947, Kumano, Japan) Shigeru Kasamatsu started gymnastics at the age of ten, what in his time was something normal. He started with all around aparatus training later at junior high school. At Chunichi Cup (the most traditional Japanese international competition) in 1970 e finished second in the all-around what was his biggest success, As this was still time of Sawao Kato and his teammates, who dominated world gymnastics. In Munich 1972 at OG he was a member of the Japanese team which won a fourth consecutive Olympic team gold. Kasamatsu placed fifth in the all-around, third on floor and horizontal bar, and second on parallel bars. The 1974 World Championships in Varna (Bulgaria) where his best competition ever. He won the all-around and also won gold in floor, horse vault, and with the team. Four gold medals made him the most succesfull gymnast in Varna. He was one of those guys, whoo have lack of luck, while he was dominating in world of gymnastics. He missed OG 1976 in Montreal because of appendectomy. Unfortunately he missed OG in time when he was in the best ages to win not only all around, but also some apparatus. GAJDOŠ A.: SHORT HISTORICAL NOTES XXV Vol. 14 Issue 3: 449-451 Science of Gymnastics Journal 450 Science of Gymnastics Journal His return to the world stage in 1978 at WC in Strasbourg was succesfull, but not as mush before operation. With team he won team gold, gold on horizontal bar and silver on floor. At the 1979 World Championships at Forth Worth he was memeber of Japonaise team, which placed the second, and for Japan it was the first time after five consecutive wins between 1962 and 1978 they lost team title. His family is also gymnastics orientated, as his wife Kazue Hanyu competed in two Olympics (1968 and 1972) and their son Akihiro Kasamatsu competed in the 2000 Olympics. Shigeru Kasamatsu is not in our history only because of his great results, but also becuse his creativity, as he was the first gymnast who performed on vault jump – carthwheel with 90 degres turn onward and salto stretched forward with 270 degrees turn. In Code of Points by FIG his vault is todaj even more developed, as gymnasts are adding more and more turn. GAJDOŠ A.: SHORT HISTORICAL NOTES XXV Vol. 14 Issue 3: 449-451 Science of Gymnastics Journal 451 Science of Gymnastics Journal He was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2006.