[1] Katō was born in Niigata Prefecture on October 11, 1946, and studied at the Tokyo Kyoiku University.

[1] Four years later the Japanese men's gymnastics team dominated the 1972 Olympics, taking 15 out of 21 individual medals.

He aimed for an unprecedented third gold medal in the all-around at the 1976 Summer Olympics, but was defeated by Nikolai Andrianov.

The team competition was close this time, but the Japanese defeated the Soviets by four tenths of a point, earning their fifth consecutive title.

[3] On May 14, 2021, Jovian asteroid 43212 Katosawao, discovered by astronomers with the American LINEAR survey in 2000, was named in his honor.