Tsunekazu Takeda

Tsunekazu Takeda

Tsunekazu Takeda in 1964
Personal information
Born	(1947-11-01) November 1, 1947 Tokyo, Japan
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight	60 kg (130 lb)
Sport
Sport	Show jumping

Tsunekazu Takeda (竹田 恆和, Takeda Tsunekazu, born November 1, 1947) is a retired Japanese equestrian and the current President of the Japanese Olympic Committee.

Biography

Takeda was born the third son of Prince Tsuneyoshi Takeda. His great-grandfather was the Emperor Meiji. Both Tsunekazu Takeda and his son Tsuneyasu Takeda studied at Keio University 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 at the 2002 and 2004 Games.

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 (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 in Nagano. He was also elected twice as Vice-President of the Olympic Council of Asia in 2001 and 2011. As a member of the International Olympic Committee, Takeda coordinated the preparation of the 2010, 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics.