Takako Shirai (volleyball)

Takako Shirai
Personal information
Full nameTakako Shirai (-Takagi)
BornYoon Jeong-soon (윤정순)
(1952-07-18) 18 July 1952
Okayama, Okayama, Japan
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Volleyball information
PositionOutside hitter
Number8 (1972)
5 (1976)
National team
1970–1977 Japan
Honours
Women's volleyball
Representing  Japan
Olympic Games
1972 Munich Team
1976 Montreal Team
World Championship
1974 Mexico
FIVB World Cup
1977 Japan
Asian Games
1970 Bangkok Team
1974 Tehran Team

Takako Shirai (白井貴子 Shirai Takako, Korean: 윤정순, Hanja: 尹貞順, Yoon Jeong-soon) is a Japanese former volleyball player of Korean ancestry. She is a two-time Olympian who was a member of the Japanese women's national volleyball team that won the gold medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.[1][2][3] Shirai also helped Japan win the silver medal at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.[2] She was an outside hitter.[1]

Shirai became a key player in the rise of the Japanese women in the 1970s. She helped the Japanese women secure a gold medal at the 1974 FIVB World Championship in Mexico.[2] She was also key in Japan's gold medal win at the 1977 FIVB World Cup in Japan.[1]

In 2000, Shirai became an inductee of the International Volleyball Hall of Fame in Holyoke, Massachusetts.[1]

National team

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Takako Shirai". International Volleyball Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  2. ^ a b c "Takako Shirai". Olympedia. Archived from the original on 3 May 2024. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  3. ^ Herman, Robin (31 July 1976). "Japan's Women Top Russians in Volleyball". The New York Times. p. 34. Retrieved 1 October 2024. (subscription required)