(born March 14, 1970, in

Hirosaki is a city located in western Aomori Prefecture, Japan. On 1 April 2020, the city had an estimated population of 168,739 in 71,716 households, and a population density of . The total area of the city is . Hirosaki developed as a castle town fo ...

, Aomori, Japan) is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

player. She played in the Hitachi softball club from 1994 to 2006 and represented Japan as part of the

Japan women's national softball team The Japan women's national softball team is the national team of Japan in international softball competitions. It is governed by the Japan Softball Association. They are currently ranked #2 in the world by the International Softball Federation. ...

in the 1996,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

, and

2004 Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

. In 2000 and 2004, she played in the teams that won the bronze and silver medals, respectively.

Retirement

Following her final Olympics appearance in 2004, Saitō continued at Hitachi softball club as a playing coach until 2006, when she became the coach for the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

. She led them to the gold medal at the 2008 Olympics. In 2011, national teammate, Reika Utsugi, succeeded her as the national team coach. She currently serves as the technical vice chair on the Japan Softball Association. On 26 June, she was selected as a board director on the

Japanese Olympic Committee The is the National Olympic Committee in Japan for the Olympic Games movement, based in Tokyo, Japan. It is a non-profit organisation that selects teams and raises funds to send Japanese competitors to Olympic events organised by the Internati ...

(JOC), a move that doubled the number of women directors.

References

Japanese softball players Living people Softball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic softball players for Japan Olympic silver medalists for Japan Softball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Japan Softball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics 1970 births Olympic medalists in softball People from Hirosaki Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Asian Games medalists in softball Softball players at the 1994 Asian Games Softball players at the 1998 Asian Games Softball players at the 2002 Asian Games Medalists at the 1994 Asian Games Medalists at the 1998 Asian Games Medalists at the 2002 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for Japan Asian Games silver medalists for Japan 21st-century Japanese women 20th-century Japanese women {{Japan-softball-bio-stub