is a Japanese businessman, retired

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

equestrian and the former President of 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 ...

, stepping down on 21 March 2019 amidst a corruption investigation. He also resigned as a member of the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swis ...

Biography

Takeda is the third son of

Prince Tsuneyoshi Takeda was the second and last heir of the Takeda-no-miya collateral branch of the Japanese Imperial Family. Biography Early life Prince Takeda Tsuneyoshi was the only son of Prince Takeda Tsunehisa and Masako, Princess Tsune (1888–1940), the ...

and great-grandson of

Emperor Meiji , also called or , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession. Reigning from 13 February 1867 to his death, he was the first monarch of the Empire of Japan and presided over the Meiji era. He was the figur ...

. Both Tsunekazu Takeda and his son Tsuneyasu Takeda studied at

Keio University , mottoeng = The pen is mightier than the sword , type = Private research coeducational higher education institution , established = 1858 , founder = Yukichi Fukuzawa , endowment ...

and later taught there. Takeda has been a keen horse rider through his whole life. He competed in show jumping at the 1972 and 1976 Olympics and finished in 16th and 13th place, respectively, with the Japanese team. Later he coached the Japanese equestrian team at the 1984, 1988 and 1992 Olympics and was

Chef de Mission In diplomatic usage, head of mission (HOM) or chief of mission (COM) from the French "chef de mission diplomatique" (CMD) is the head of a diplomatic representation, such as an ambassador, high commissioner, nuncio, chargé d'affaires, permanent ...

at the 2002 and 2004 Games. In 1974, Takeda caused a car accident and killed a 22-year-old woman. Although identified as being at fault, he was not prosecuted, and the matter was resolved by Takeda privately compensating her surviving family. In 1987, Takeda joined the Japanese Olympic Committee and became its president in October 2001. He has also served as a vice-president of the

International Equestrian Federation The International Federation for Equestrian Sports (, FEI) is the international governing body of equestrian sports. The FEI headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland. An FEI code of conduct protects the welfare of the horses from physical abu ...

(FEI) from 1998 to 2002, and was later made a Honorary Vice-president. Takeda was sports director for the organizing committee of the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in th ...

in Nagano. He was also elected twice as vice-president of the

Olympic Council of Asia The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) is a governing body of sports in Asia, currently with 45 member National Olympic Committees. The current Acting President is Raja Randhir Singh, substituting Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah. The headquarters ...

in 2001 and 2011. As a member of the

, Takeda coordinated the preparation of the 2010, 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics.

Indictments

On December 10, 2018, the French financial crimes office began an investigation of Takeda about a 2013 scheme to obtain votes from International Olympic Committee (IOC) members from Africa in support of Tokyo as host for the

2020 Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

instead of Istanbul or Madrid.

Magistrates The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judic ...

Renaud Van Ruymbeke Renaud van Ruymbeke (born 19 August 1952) is an investigative magistrate, well known for specializing in political and financial corruption cases. He investigated the French-Taiwan Frigates Affair, which was related to the Clearstream, and the ...

and Stéphanie Tacheau are overseeing the "active corruption" probe. Takeda denied the indictments. Meanwhile, the Japanese Olympic Committee (of which Takeda was head) conducted an internal investigation into the accusations but found no ethics violations. On March 19, 2019, Takeda announced that he would step down as President of the Japanese Olympic Committee and as a member of the International Olympic Committee amid the allegations of bribery to protect the Olympic Movement. He will officially leave the Japanese Olympic Committee on June 27, 2019, when his term concludes.

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Takeda, Tsunekazu 1947 births Living people Japanese referees and umpires Japanese male equestrians Olympic equestrians of Japan Equestrians at the 1972 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 1976 Summer Olympics Keio University alumni Takeda-no-miya International Olympic Committee members