Hobbies
Shopping, watching movies and television shows, taking a bath. (konami.com, 26 Sep 2018; taisou-nippon.jp, 04 Mar 2018)
Occupation
Athlete
Education
Juntendo University, Tokyo, JPN
Spoken languages
Japanese
Club
Konami Sports Club [Japan]
Coach
Hiroyuki Kato [club], JPN; Hisashi Mizutori [national], JPN (konamisportsclub.jp, 26 Sep 2018; nikkansports.com, 11 Sep 2018)
Sporting relatives
His father ran a gymnastics club and his mother was a gymnast. His brother Kazuhito Tanaka and his sister Rie Tanaka both competed in the sport at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. (SportsDeskOnline, 11 Oct 2018; wakayamashimpo.co.jp, 14 Sep 2015; japan.techinsight.jp, 14 Apr 2014; sankei.jp.msn.com, 16 Dec 2013)
Injuries
In August 2018 he damaged the biceps muscle in his right shoulder and was unable to compete at the All Japan Championships. (mainichi.jp, 24 Apr 2019; nikkansports.com, 03 Oct 2018; sanspo.com, 30 Oct 2018)
National Team
2006 (kids-event.jp, 09 Dec 2014)
Start sporting career
He took up gymnastics at age seven. (nwn.jp, 28 Sep 2011)
Reason for taking up the sport
He followed his older siblings into the sport. (konami.co.jp, 26 Jun 2014)
Milestones
Along with his brother Kazuhito and sister Rie, the siblings became the first set of three siblings from Japan to compete in artistic gymnastics at a single edition of an Olympic Games, when they competed at the 2012 Games in London. (tv-asahi.co.jp, 15 Apr 2018)
Ambitions
To compete at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. (konami.com, 26 Sep 2018)
Most memorable sporting achievement
Winning gold in the team all-around at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. (tv-asahi.co.jp, 15 Apr 2018)
Hero / Idol
Japanese artistic gymnast Hiroyuki Tomita. (konamisportsclub.jp, 05 Dec 2014)
Most influential person in career
Japanese gymnast Kohei Uchimura. (nwn.jp, 03 Jan 2016; spread-sports.jp. 07 Jan 2020)
Philosophy / Motto
"Beautiful artistic gymnastics that keeps to the basics." (tv-asahi.co.jp, 06 Oct 2018)
Awards
In 2016 he received the Wakayama City Honorary Award in Japan. (nwn.jp, 17 Sep 2016)
In 2016 he received the Wakayama Prefecture Sports Honorary Award in Japan. (sankei.com, 06 Sep 2016)
In 2016 he was given the Soka Citizen Honorary Award in Japan. (city.soka.saitama.jp, 07 Sep 2017)
In 2015 he was given the Kozuki Sports Award by the Kozuki Foundation in Japan. (cyclestyle.net, 18 Sep 2015)
Following the 2012 Olympic Games in London, he received the Soka Citizen Special Award and the Chiba Prefecture Governor's Award. (pref.chiba.lg.jp, 12 Dec 2012; soka-fusasara.net, 05 Oct 2012)
Additional information
General
POST-RIO BLUES
He says his passion for the sport suffered a dip after winning gold in the team all-around at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. "An Olympic gold medal was my life-time goal. Therefore, afterwards I lost a bit of direction. However I became motivated again after I dropped out of the national team in 2017 for the first time. I want to compete internationally again and show my best at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo." (tv-asahi.co.jp, 15 Apr 2018)
Last update : 2020-08-10
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