Participation of Hosei University Staff in the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games

Five athletes and one coach from Hosei University's current and former students will participate in the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games to be held from February 4. Although we had originally planned to hold a pep rally to send encouragement directly to the athletes, we have had to cancel the event due to the recent spread of the new coronavirus infection.

However, due to the recent spread of the new coronavirus, we had no choice but to cancel the event. We have received video messages from each of the four players and their coaches, which we would like to post here along with their biographies.

We hope you will remember the names of the athletes and cheer them on warmly through the TV.

(Please refer to " Hosei University's Olympic Athletes for Beijing 2022 Olympic Games " for the scheduled dates of each athlete's participation and broadcast schedule.)

Reira Iwabuchi / Snowboarding Slopestyle event / 2nd year, Faculty of Sports and Health Studies

Iwabuchi started snowboarding at the age of 4, and at the age of 10, he won the championship at the Indy Park Jam, which is the gateway to success for Asian snowboarders, equivalent to the U-15 (under fifteen) generation snowboard rookie tour. He has been active in the world as a professional snowboarder since he was in the first grade of junior high school. In 2016, before graduating from junior high school, she won the All-Japan Snowboard Championships Slopestyle, and in 2018, she represented Japan in the Pyeongchang Olympics in Snowboard Slopestyle for the first time and placed 4th, and her performance in this event is highly anticipated.

Sena Suzuki / Ice Hockey / 2014 Faculty of Sports and Health Studies

Suzuki started playing ice hockey in the first grade of elementary school under the influence of her older brother, and participated in the U-18 World Championships while in high school. After entering Hosei University in 2010, she played as a defender for the SEIBU Princesse Rabbits while playing for the Athletic Association Skating Club, and in her senior year, she and Ayaka Toko, a junior in the same department, competed in the Sochi In her senior year of college, she competed in the Sochi Olympics with Ayaka Toko, a junior in the same department. After the Sochi Olympics, she played in the Canadian women's ice hockey league, where she was the first Japanese player to be selected as an all-star. She has now returned to the SEIBU Princess Rabbits, where she has contributed to the team's eight consecutive championships in the Women's Japan Ice Hockey League through 2020.

Ayaka Toko / Ice Hockey / 2016, Faculty of Sports and Health Studies

Ayaka Toko started playing ice hockey in elementary school under the influence of her father, a former national ice hockey player. 15 years old, she was selected for Japan's U-18 national team and participated in the Women's Ice Hockey U-18 World Championships as a high school student. In 2014, as a freshman, she participated in the Sochi Olympics, scoring the most goals for the team despite being a defender. Haruka Tokoh is her younger sister, and this was the second time for the two sisters to compete in the Olympics, first in PyeongChang and now in the current games.

Ruka Tokohata / Ice Hockey Event / Graduated from Faculty of Sports and Health Studies in 2018

Ruka Tokohata started playing ice hockey at the age of 5, a little earlier than her older sister Ayaka, and after entering Hosei University in 2015, she was a member of the University's Athletic Association Skating Club as well as the SEIBU Princess Rabbits, a team of working adults. She has been active as a point getter for the team. She was temporarily transferred to a Swedish women's ice hockey league team, but has now returned to the SEIBU Princess Rabbits, where she is currently based in Japan.

Misato Komatsubara / Figure Skating and Ice Dancing / Graduated from School of Correspondence Education (Faculty of Letters, Department of History) in 2011

Misato Komatsubara has been recognized as a prominent figure skater and ice dancer since early on, winning three consecutive All-Japan Junior Championships in the 2011-2012 season. In the 2018-2019 season, she won her first All-Japan Championships and contributed to Japan's silver medal as team captain at the World Cup. In 2019, she will spend most of the season rehabilitating after a training accident, but with the dedicated support of her partner Tim Coleto (husband, Takeru Komatsubara), they won the All-Japan Championships for the second year in a row at the end of the same year. This will be the first time for the couple to compete in the Olympics.

Yosuke Takeuchi / Figure Skating Competition, Director / Graduated from Faculty of Letters, 2002

Mr. Yosuke Takeuchi is an adjunct lecturer at the University of Tokyo, teaching physical education courses to students in the Ichigaya and Koganei faculties, and is also the director of the figure skating division of the Athletic Association Skating Club. During his tenure at the University, Mr. Takeuchi represented Japan at the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002. After his graduation in 2002, Mr. Takeuchi retired from the sport, and while teaching at TUAT, he also worked to train many skaters as the head of the Skating Federation. In this year's Olympics, he will lead a star-studded team of skaters, not as an athlete but as a coach, in their quest for Olympic supremacy.