Hiromasa Tanaka
Encyclopedia
Hiromasa Tanaka (Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

: 田中宏昌; born 28 September 1981) is a Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese decathlete. He won five straight national decathlon titles from 2004 to 2008 and was the gold medal
Gold medal
A gold medal is typically the 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...

list in the event at the 2009 Asian Athletics Championships
2009 Asian Athletics Championships
The 18th Asian Athletics Championships were held in Guangzhou, China in 2009.- Track :- Field :- Track :- Field :- Medal table :-References:*. IAAF . Retrieved on 2011-07-09.*. IAAF . Retrieved on 2011-07-09....

. He also represented Japan at the 2007 World Championships
2007 World Championships in Athletics
The 11th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations , were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007...

.

Hailing from Ōbatake, Yamaguchi
Obatake, Yamaguchi
was a town in Kuga District, Yamaguchi, Japan.On February 21, 2005 Ōbatake was merged into the city of Yanai.As of 2003, the town had an estimated population of 3,583 and a density of 298.33 persons per km². The total area was 12.01 km².-External links:...

, Tanaka established himself domestically with back-to-back decathlon wins at the Japanese Athletics Championships in 2004 and 2005. On his first international appearance, he won the bronze medal
Bronze medal
A bronze medal is a medal awarded to the third place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The practice of awarding bronze third place medals began at the 1904 Olympic Games in St...

 at the 2005 Asian Athletics Championships, finishing behind Pavel Andreev and Kim Kun-Woo
Kim Kun-Woo
Kim Kun-Woo is a South Korean track and field athlete who competes in the decathlon. He is a two-time Asian Games medallist in the event , as well having won medals at the Asian Athletics Championships and East Asian Games.Kim represented his country at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics...

. He took a third consecutive national title in 2006, a winning streak that would continue until 2009 when he was beaten by Daisuke Ikeda.

At the 2006 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships
2006 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships
The 2006 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships was an international indoor athletics event took place in Pattaya, Thailand, between 10 and 12 February.-Men:-Women:-Medal table:-Participating nations:...

 he missed out on a medal in the indoor heptathlon, although he achieved 5340 points in his first major outing in the event. He scored a personal best total of 7803 points for decathlon in Kanazawa
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
is the capital city of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan.-Geography, climate, and population:Kanazawa sits on the Sea of Japan, bordered by the Japan Alps, Hakusan National Park and Noto Peninsula National Park. The city sits between the Sai and Asano rivers. Its total area is 467.77 km².Kanazawa's...

 in June 2006, but at his first Asian Games
2006 Asian Games
The 15th Asian Games, officially known as the XV Asiad, is Asia's Olympic-style sporting event that was held in Doha, Qatar from December 1 to December 15, 2006. Doha was the first city in its region and only the second in West Asia to host the games...

 that year he was far off this form and, after he failed to produce a mark in the pole vault
Pole vault
Pole vaulting is a track and field event in which a person uses a long, flexible pole as an aid to leap over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the ancient Greeks, as well as the Cretans and Celts...

, he finished in tenth place. As the reigning national champion, Tanaka gained selection for the 2007 World Championships in Athletics
2007 World Championships in Athletics
The 11th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations , were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007...

, held in Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...

, and he finished in 19th place overall.

Tanaka won his first indoor medal at the 2008 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships
2008 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships
The 2008 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships was an international indoor athletics event took place in Doha, Qatar, between 14 and 16 February.-Men:-Women:-Medal table:-Participating nations:...

, taking the bronze at the event in Doha
Doha
Doha is the capital city of the state of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf, it had a population of 998,651 in 2008, and is also one of the municipalities of Qatar...

. In the absence of Dmitriy Karpov
Dmitriy Karpov
Dmitriy Karpov is an athlete from Kazakhstan who competes in decathlon and heptathlon...

 and the defending champion Ahmed Hassan Moussa, he won the 2009 Asian Athletics Championships
2009 Asian Athletics Championships
The 18th Asian Athletics Championships were held in Guangzhou, China in 2009.- Track :- Field :- Track :- Field :- Medal table :-References:*. IAAF . Retrieved on 2011-07-09.*. IAAF . Retrieved on 2011-07-09....

. He missed the 2010 Asian Games
2010 Asian Games
The 2010 Asian Games, also known as the XVI Asiad, was a multi-sport event celebrated in Guangzhou, China from November 12 to November 27, 2010. Guangzhou was the second Chinese city to host the Games, after Beijing in 1990...

.

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