is a Japanese

foil Foil may refer to: Materials * Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine * Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal * Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food * Tin foil, metal foil ...

fencer, gold medallist at the

2006 Asian Games 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

, silver medallist at the

2008 Summer 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 Na ...

, team silver medallist at 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 ...

, and individual gold medallist at the

2015 World Fencing Championships The 2015 World Fencing Championships were held at the Olympic Stadium in Moscow, Russia from 13 to 19 July 2015. Schedule The schedule of the competition. Medal summary Medal table Men's events Women's events References External links ...

. He is 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 Swiss ...

(IOC).

Career

Yuki took up fencing in his elementary school years at the instigation of his father, a ''

Zorro Zorro (Spanish language, Spanish for 'fox') is a fictional character created in 1919 by American pulp magazine, pulp writer Johnston McCulley, appearing in works set in the Pueblo of Los Angeles in Alta California. He is typically portrayed a ...

'' fan and keen amateur fencer. He won the national junior high school championships. In Heian High School, he got third consecutive championship victories in national high school championships. Ota climbed his first

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

podium with a victory at the 2004 Tehran World Cup. He qualified for the

2004 Summer Olympics 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 Athens, his first Olympic participation, but was defeated in the table of 16 by Russia's

Renal Ganeyev Renal Ramilevich Ganeyev (russian: Реналь Рамилевич Ганеев, also spelled Ganeev; born 13 January 1985) is a Russian former fencer, who won bronze Olympic medal in the team foil competition at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Ath ...

. He later explained he had felt completely overpowered: "It was on a whole other level. In F1 terms, it was like the finalists were equipped with completely different engines." Demotivated, he was taken over in world rankings by friend and rival

Kenta Chida is a Japanese fencer. At the 2012 Summer Olympics he competed in the men's foil, but was defeated in the second round. He won a silver medal in the team foil event. Career Chida's father Kenichi was selected for the 1980 Summer Olympics in M ...

, whom he always used to beat, and contemplated giving up competition to take a regular job. In 2006, Ota resumed training with Japan's national coach, Ukrainian Oleg Matseichuk, from whom he had always kept his distances before. He won a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

at the

in Doha and at the 2008 Asian Fencing Championships held in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...

. In the

in Beijing, Ota reached the final of the men's individual foil held on 13 August 2008, by beating Germany's

Peter Joppich Peter Joppich (born 21 December 1982) is a German foil fencer. Biography Joppich is a five-time World Champion in Foil with four Individual titles and one Team title. He won the gold medal in 2010 World Fencing Championships after beating Lei ...

15–12 in the quarter finals and

Salvatore Sanzo Salvatore Sanzo (born 26 November 1975) is an Italian Olympic fencer. He won a team gold and individual silver medal in Athens and an individual bronze medal in Beijing in foil. Biography In 2002 he married the teammate Frida Scarpa, the couple ...

15–14 in the semifinals. He lost 15–9 to

Benjamin Kleibrink Benjamin Philip Kleibrink (born 30 July 1985, in Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-W ...

in the final, thus winning the silver medal, Japan's first Olympic medal. He was then recruited by French club ASPTT Aix-en-Provence and took part in the team event of the 2009 French national championship along with

Erwann Le Péchoux Erwann Le Péchoux (born 13 January 1982) is a French left-handed foil fencer. Le Péchoux is a four-time team European champion and four-time team world champion. A five-time Olympian, Le Péchoux is a 2016 team Olympic silver medalist and 202 ...

and Marcel Marcilloux. In the 2008–09 season, Ota moved to the top of the world rankings after finishing runner-up in the Moscow World Cup. At the

, he lost in the third round of the individual foil competition, but won a silver medal in the team foil event. At the

, he won gold in the Men's foil event, becoming the first Japanese to win a world championship in any event in fencing. Ota graduated from

Doshisha University , mottoeng = Truth shall make you free , tagline = , established = Founded 1875,Chartered 1920 , vision = , type = Private , affiliation = , calendar = , endowment = €1 ...

. He is a member of the athletes commission of the

International Fencing Federation International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

References

External links

Sanspo.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ota, Yuki 1985 births Living people Asian Games medalists in fencing Doshisha University alumni Fencers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 2006 Asian Games Fencers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 2010 Asian Games Fencers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 2014 Asian Games Japanese male foil fencers Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic fencers of Japan Olympic silver medalists for Japan Olympic medalists in fencing People from Ōtsu, Shiga Asian Games gold medalists for Japan Asian Games silver medalists for Japan Asian Games bronze medalists for Japan Fencers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2006 Asian Games Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games International Olympic Committee members 21st-century Japanese people 20th-century Japanese people