Rene Capo (May 9, 1961 – July 6, 2009) was a

judoka is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo") ...

from the United States who competed in the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

and the 1996 Summer Olympics. Capo immigrated to the United States from

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

as a young boy. Though he won several judo championships in high school, Capo took a four-year break from the sport to attend the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

. After college, Capo went on to qualify for two United States Olympics teams, could not compete as an alternate in another due to a back injury, and narrowly missed making the 2008 team. In 2008, Capo was diagnosed with lung cancer, which caused his death the following year.

Early life

Capo immigrated to the United States from

Pinar del Río Pinar del Río is the capital city of Pinar del Río Province, Cuba. With a population of 139,336 (2004) in a municipality of 190,332, it is the 10th-largest city in Cuba. Inhabitants of the area are called ''Pinareños''. History Pinar del R ...

, Cuba in 1962, when he was still an infant, and grew up in Hialeah, Florida. He learned Judo as a member of Florida Judo Kai, under the tutelage of Cuban Champion Reinaldo Montpellier. After graduating from Hialeah-Miami Lakes High School He attended the

, where he played defensive tackle for the Golden Gophers from 1979 to 1982, sharing a team record with four sacks.

Judo career

Amateur competition

At the age of six, Capo competed in his first

judo is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo") ...

competition, and had won his first tournament by nine. By sixteen, he had become a Grandmaster, and won the Judo high school national championship. By the time of his graduation, Capo had earned a national high school gold medal, and won the United States Senior National title. A classmate recalls how, as a 190-pound junior, Capo pinned

Lester Williams Lester Williams (January 19, 1959 – August 16, 2017) was an American football defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL), mainly for the New England Patriots, including the team's first Super Bowl appearance. He finished his career ...

, then regarded as possibly the top high school athlete in the nation.

Professional career

After a four-year break from Judo in which he focused on football and college, Capo won a gold medal at the 1987

Pacific Rim Championships The Pacific Rim Championships is a major regional biennial gymnastics competition. It is open to teams from member nations of the Pacific Alliance of National Gymnastics Federations, namely Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Chinese Taipei, Colombi ...

. A year later, he upset a number of highly ranked heavyweights at the US Judo Olympic Trials. At the 1988 Summer Olympics in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the Capital city, capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea ...

, Capo finished 19th. Capo qualified as the alternate for the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

, but was unable to compete due to severe neck injury. After having surgery on two vertebrae, he made it to the 1996 Summer Olympics, where he was eliminated the first day. From 2005 to 2007, Capo taught

at the

Jason Morris Jason Newth Morris (born February 3, 1967) is a retired American judoka. He was a four-time Olympian and 2008 Olympic Coach, is best known for winning the silver medal in the -78kg weight category in the 1992 Summer Olympics and a Bronze Medal i ...

Judo Center in Glenville. He narrowly missed qualifying for the 2008 Summer Olympics, losing to his own student, Kyle Vashkulat. At the 2008

USA Judo Senior National Championships The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

one month later, Capo placed fifth.

Cancer

In 2008, Capo, a non-smoker, was diagnosed with

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...

, from which he died on July 6, 2009 in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

. At the time, he lived in Naperville, Illinois, where he had moved to earn money selling magazine subscriptions to schools.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Capo, Rene 1961 births 2009 deaths American football defensive tackles American male judoka Deaths from cancer in Illinois Cuban emigrants to the United States Deaths from lung cancer Judoka at the 1988 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 1996 Summer Olympics Minnesota Golden Gophers football players Olympic judoka of the United States Sportspeople from Naperville, Illinois People from Pinar del Río