Robert Kazuo Tanaka Jr. (born January 11, 2000) is a Paralympic Judoka and represented Team USA in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Paralympic Games. Tanaka is a 2020 IBSA Pan American bronze medalist and finished top 5 in both the 2018 IBSA World Games (Lisbon, Portugal) and the 2019 IBSA World Games (Fort Wayne, Indiana). Tanaka was born with albinism, the causse of his visual imparment. Originally from Denver, Tanaka started Judo at the age of 5 at Denver Judo. His coaches, Heidi and Scoot Moore, would go on to sit in his couching chair in the 2020 Paralympic Games. Throughout his career, he also trained at Denver Buddhist Judo Dojo, Ju Shin Kan Judo Academy (Paul Truong), and Sawtelle Judo Dojo (Kenji Osugi). After the Tokyo Games, Tanaka was retired from Para Judo as he no longer classified under the new IBSA vision classifications for Paris 2024.

References

2000 births Living people Sportspeople from Denver American male judoka Paralympic judoka for the United States People with albinism American sportspeople of Japanese descent University of Southern California alumni {{US-judo-bio-stub