From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Daisuke Takahashi

Takahashi in 2008.
Personal information
Full name:	Daisuke Takahashi
Country represented:	Japan
Date of birth:	March 16, 1986 (1986-03-16) (age 24)
Place of birth:	Kurashiki, Okayama
Residence:	Osaka
Height:	1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Coach:	Utako Nagamitsu
Former coach:	Nikolai Morozov
Choreographer:	Kenji Miyamoto, Pasquale Camerlengo
Former choreographer:	Nikolai Morozov
Skating club:	Kansai University SC
ISU personal best scores
Combined total:	264.41 2008 Four Continents
Short program:	90.25 2010 Olympics
Free skate:	175.84 2008 Four Continents

Olympic medal record
Men's figure skating
Competitor for  Japan
Bronze	2010 Vancouver	Singles

Daisuke Takahashi (髙橋 大輔, Takahashi Daisuke^?) (born March 16, 1986 in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese figure skater. Takahashi is the 2010 Olympic bronze medalist, the 2007 World silver medalist, the 2008 Four Continents Champion, and a four-time (2006-2008, 2010) Japanese national champion.

He represented Japan at the 2006 Winter Olympics and at the 2010 Winter Olympics. His bronze medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics was the first Olympic medal for Japan in the men's singles event.

As of February 2010 he is ranked 3rd in the world.^[1]

Career

Early career

Takahashi began figure skating when he was 8 years old. When a skating rink was built near his house, he went with his mother to watch the skaters at the rink, and afterwards, enrolled in the figure skating club. His mother intended for him enroll in the ice hockey club, but he didn't like the protective gear of ice hockey, so he enrolled in the figure skating club, instead.

Takahashi had a successful junior career, winning the Junior World Figure Skating Championships in 2002, in his first, and only, appearance at that competition. Takahashi is the first Japanese man to have won the World Junior Championships.

Senior career

For the following 2002-2003 season, Takahashi turned senior, and his ascent slowed. He struggled with consistency during those first few years of his senior career. He went into the 2005 World Figure Skating Championships as the reigning Four Continents bronze medalist, but he was the second of two Japanese men on the World team, after Takeshi Honda. However, when Honda was forced to withdraw due to injury, it fell on Takahashi to qualify spots for Japan at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Takahashi placed 15th, qualifying only one spot for the Japanese men.

2005–2006 season

In the 2005–2006 season, Nobunari Oda emerged as a challenger for the Olympic spot. Oda and Takahashi both had very good Grand Prix seasons. At the 2005–2006 Japanese nationals, Oda was declared the winner, and, thus, seemed to have qualified for the one Olympic slot, but his gold medal was quickly taken back, when an error was found in the way scores were tallied in the computer system at the event, and Takahashi was awarded the gold. The Japanese Skating Federation split the international assignments, and gave Takahashi the Olympics, and Oda a place at the World Championship. At the 2006 Olympics, Takahashi was in a good position after the short program, but had a poor long program and placed 8th overall.

2006–2007 season

In the 2006–2007 competitive season, Takahashi won a silver medal at 2006 Skate Canada International, then gold at the 2006 NHK Trophy. He qualified for the Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final and placed second, although he was ill. He won the Japanese National title for the second year in a row, and then went on to the Winter Universiade in Torino, Italy which he won as well. At the 2007 World Figure Skating Championships he skated the performance of his life in his home country, and ended up winning the silver medal, and trailing Brian Joubert narrowly. This was the first silver medal for Japan in the men's event at Worlds.

Following that season, Takahashi was ranked as first in the World by the ISU. However, over the summer, the ISU tweaked their scoring criteria. Takahashi had been placed on top, just ahead of Brian Joubert, in part due to Takahashi's victory at the Winter Universiade, a competition for which Brian Joubert was not eligible, as Joubert was not a university student. The ISU determined that the results of the Winter Universiade couldn't be used to calculate world ranking, and Takahashi's ranking fell from first to second place.

2007-2008 season

In the 2007–2008 season, he won his Grand Prix Events and placed 2nd in The Grand Prix Final behind Stephane Lambiel. A few weeks later, he won his third Japanese Championship and was selected for the 2008 Four Continents Championships and the 2008 World Championships. Takahashi won the Four Continents, scoring a new record in the free skate (175.84) and in the total score (264.41) under the ISU Judging System. He was considered a favorite heading into the 2008 World Championships but finished off the podium after a disappointing free skate in which he fell on his second quad toe attempt, then stumbled on a triple Axel and loop, and, finally, performed an extra combination, an invalid element, which did not count towards his points total.^[2]

2008-2009 season

Takahashi was originally assigned to the 2008 Cup of China and the 2008 NHK Trophy for the 2008-2009 Grand Prix season. He withdrew from the Cup of China due to a knee injury suffered in practice.^[3] It was later reported that Takahashi would undergo surgery to repair ligament damage and his right meniscus and would miss the entire 2008-2009 season.^[4]

2009-2010 season

After recovering from the surgery and getting back to training healthily, Takahashi was assigned to compete in the 2009 Skate Canada International and in the 2009 NHK Trophy for the 2009-2010 season. He placed second at the 2009 Skate Canada and fourth at the 2009 NHK Trophy. Those placements qualified him to compete in the 2009-2010 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final. At the 2009-2010 Grand Prix Final, he lead after the short program with a new personal best of 89.95, but was fifth in the free skate and overall.

He won his fourth national championship at the 2009-2010 Japanese National Championhips and earned qualifications to compete in the 2010 Winter Olympics and in the 2010 World Figure Skating Championships. On February 18, 2010, Takahashi won the bronze medal with a score of 247.43.^[5] It is the first Olympic medal to be won by Japan in Men's Figure Skating.

Coaching change

Takahashi is a student at Kansai University, along with Nobunari Oda. For several years, he split his time between Hackensack, New Jersey, where he trained under coach Nikolai Morozov, and Osaka, Japan, where he trains under coach Utako Nagamitsu. In May 2008, Takahashi announced that he would be parting ways with Morozov.^[6]

In May 2008, Nikolai Morozov explained the split by stating that he could no longer coach Takahashi due to problems with Takahashi's new agent.^[7][8]

Programs

Takahashi at the 2006 Skate Canada International.

Competitive highlights

Takahashi (center) with other medalists at the 2007 NHK Trophy podium.

Post-2004

• WD = Withdrew
• Takahashi did not compete in the 2008–2009 season.

Pre-2004

References

External links

• Daisuke Takahashi at the International Skating Union