Taylor Takata (born April 6, 1982) is an American athlete who placed 9th at Men's

Judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...

(66 kg Weight Category) in the 2008 Summer Olympics.Ranking listed on the page

Judo at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 66 kg The men's 66 kg tournament in judo at the 2008 Summer Olympics was held on August 10 at the Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium. Preliminary rounds were held at 12:00 pm CST. Repechage Repechage (; french: repêchage, "f ...

He represented the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and comes from the state of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

Biography

Takata was born in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

. Following his graduation from

ʻIolani School Iolani School, located at 563 Kamoku Street in Honolulu, Hawaii, is a private coeducational college preparatory school serving over 2,020 students with a boarding program for grades 9 - 12 as well as a summer boarding program for middle school gra ...

, he attended

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sys ...

and

University of Colorado at Colorado Springs The University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) is a public research university in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It is one of four campuses that make up the University of Colorado system. As of Fall 2017, UCCS had over 12,400 undergraduate an ...

. He currently runs a

dojo A is a hall or place for immersive learning or meditation. This is traditionally in the field of martial arts, but has been seen increasingly in other fields, such as meditation and software development. The term literally means "place of the ...

called Hawaii Judo Academy. The club he belongs to is the USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center. He is coached by Eddie Liddie. He represented the United States at both the Junior and Senior World Championships in the 60 kg division as well as winning National Championship, Pan American and U.S. Open Titles. In 2004, he moved up to the 66 kg division. Taylor Takata has held the #1 U.S. ranking in judo this year after several years of moving among the rankings. Takata won the Olympic Trials in June 2008, earning a spot on the US Olympic team and the chance to compete in the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

. He placed 9th in the 66 kg division. What Takata has said about the Olympics:

"It's been great to be here and experience the Olympics and fight the best guys in the world."

Notes

References

Biography of Taylor Takata
{{DEFAULTSORT:Takata, Taylor 1982 births ʻIolani School alumni American male judoka Judoka at the 2003 Pan American Games Judoka at the 2008 Summer Olympics Living people Olympic judoka for the United States Pan American Games competitors for the United States American sportspeople of Japanese descent San Jose State University alumni