Roderick Genki Dean (born 30 December 1991) is a Japanese athlete who competes in the

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the ...

. He was born to a Japanese mother and a British father from

Chester-le-Street Chester-le-Street (), also known as Chester, is a market town and civil parish in County Durham, England, around north of Durham and also close to Sunderland and Newcastle upon Tyne. It is located on the River Wear, which runs out to sea at Sun ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He has a degree in sports science from

Waseda University , abbreviated as , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the ''Tōkyō Senmon Gakkō'' by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the school was formally renamed Waseda University in 1902. The university has numerou ...

. He started throwing the javelin at age 15 in high school and immediately displayed an aptitude for the discipline. He won a silver medal at the

2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics was an international athletics competition for athletes under the age of 20 which was held at the Moncton Stadium in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada from 19 to 25 July 2010. A total of 44 athletics ...

throwing a new personal best of 76.44 m. He first came to prominence at the

2012 Japan Championships in Athletics The were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka. Organised by JAAF, the three-day competition took place from June 8–10 and served as the national championships in track and field for the Japan. The competition was for the qualifying trial for the Jap ...

, throwing 84.03 m, setting a new championship record, beating veteran

Yukifumi Murakami is a Japanese javelin thrower. He was the first Japanese athlete to win a World Championship medal in the javelin, taking bronze at the 2009 edition with a throw of 82.97 metres. He was successful as a junior athlete and won the bronze medal ...

and sealing his place in the Japanese team for the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in the

Javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the ...

. He was selected as the Most Valuable Male Athlete of the Japanese Championships. At the 2012 Olympics he threw 82.07m to qualify from the heats, but could not improve on this and finished 10th in the final with 79.95m. In 2020 and 2021, he finished 2nd in the Japanese championships. Dean won Japan's National Javelin Championship and earned gold medals in June 2022 and 2023, with 81.02 m and 82.65 m throws. In 2023, he won the

Asian Championships An Asian Championship is a top level international sports competition between Asian athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. List of Championships (Summer Olympic Sports) ;Aquatics * Asian ...

, finished third in the

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

and competed at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

, having also competed at the 2022 World Championships.

Seasonal bests by year

*2009 - 70.57 *2010 - 78.57 *2011 - 79.20 *2012 - 84.28 *2013 - 80.15 *2014 - 77.32 *2015 - 75.09 *2016 - 79.59 *2017 - 75.30 *2018 - 76.33 *2019 - 78.00 *2020 - 84.05 *2021 - 82.15 *2022 - 82.34 *2023 - 83.15

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dean, Genki 1991 births Living people Japanese male javelin throwers Olympic male javelin throwers Olympic athletes for Japan Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Japan Championships in Athletics winners Japanese people of English descent Asian Athletics Championships winners World Athletics Championships athletes for Japan