Taeko Takeba

Taeko Takeba
Personal information
Full nameTaeko Takeba
Nationality Japan
Born (1966-06-16) 16 June 1966 (age 58)
Kobe, Japan
Height1.59 m (5 ft 2+12 in)
Weight66 kg (146 lb)
Sport
SportShooting
EventTrap (TR75)
ClubEhime Clay Shooting
Association[1]
Coached byAtsushi Otsuke[1]

Taeko Takeba (竹葉 多重子, Takeba Taeko, born June 16, 1966 in Kobe) is a Japanese trap shooter.[2] She won a gold medal in the women's trap at the 2001 ISSF World Cup final in Doha, Qatar, achieved a fifth-place finish at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea, and represented her nation Japan in two editions of the Olympic Games (2000 and 2004).[1][3] During her sporting career, Takeba trained full-time for the Ehime Clay Shooting Association under her personal coach Atsushi Otsuke[1][3]

Takeba made her official debut at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, where she wound up to sixteenth in the inaugural women's trap with a score of 56 hits, narrowly escaping from the last spot in a field of seventeen shooters by four points.[4][5]

Shortly after the Games, Takeba rose to a sporting fame with a gold medal victory over Russian shooter and world record holder Elena Tkach at the 2001 ISSF World Cup final with a remarkable score of 88 targets.[3]

At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Takeba qualified for her second Japanese squad, as a 38-year-old, in the women's trap by attaining a minimum score of 68 and securing an Olympic ticket from the 2002 ISSF World Cup series in Shanghai, China.[1][6] Improving her position from the previous Games, she amassed a total score of 59 hits out of 75 targets in the qualifying stage, but narrowly missed the final round by a single-point deficit with an eighth-place finish.[7][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "ISSF Profile – Taeko Takeba". ISSF. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  2. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Taeko Takeba". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  3. ^ a b c "Takeba wins World Cup trap shoot". The Japan Times. 29 January 2002. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  4. ^ "Sydney 2000: Shooting – Women's Trap" (PDF). Sydney 2000. LA84 Foundation. p. 96. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  5. ^ "China's Cai wins air rifle gold". Sydney 2000. Canoe.ca. 18 September 2000. Archived from the original on April 13, 2015. Retrieved 29 March 2015.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. ^ 竹葉を代表に決定 アテネ五輪クレー射撃 [Trap shooter Takeba will compete at the Athens Olympics] (in Japanese). 47 News. 24 May 2004. Archived from the original on 13 April 2015. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  7. ^ "竹葉が8位入賞 射撃" [Takeba finished eighth in trap shooting]. Shinmai. 16 August 2004. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  8. ^ "Shooting: Women's Trap Prelims". Athens 2004. BBC Sport. 15 August 2004. Retrieved 31 January 2013.