#1 U.S. ranking Judo Olympian, Taylor Takata

Taylor Takata has held the #1 U.S. ranking in judo this year after several years of moving among the rankings. Taylor dominated his U.S. opponents to win the Trials in June and a rightful place on his first Olympic Team.

Taylor’s competition at the Olympic Games was the culmination of a long journey; he just placed ninth in the 66kg division on Sunday.

Gold next time, just you wait!

Taylor has said,

“It’s been great to be here and experience the Olympics and fight the best guys in the world”

He recently tried adopting a new attacking style, likening it to the way a predator stalks his prey. Usually it works pretty spectacularly:

What’s most surprising? Off the mat, Taylor is incredibly laid back. For fun, he goes fishing, swimming, and to the beach.

More fun facts?
Taylor is a TV junkie, he loves the Food Network and watching his favorite team, the Boston Red Sox. Favorite show? The Discovery channel’s “The Deadliest Catch.”

So..

We were dismayed to find that there wasn’t a huge wikipedia article on Taylor…

To fix this problem, we immediately created an entry for him. You may find the article by clicking here. You may login with the following information:
Username: aaambassador
Password: password

We hope you do this with other Asian heroes who will be highlighted by your hard work. Thank you!

Source

Image from: http://www.taylortakata.com/Home_Page.php

http://www.nbcolympics.com/athletes/athlete=1285/bio/index.html

The Joy Luck Club Artist and Author, Amy Tan

Amy Tan began her writing career as a business writer, providing speeches for salesmen and executives at large corporations. She defied her mother by dropping out of pre-med in favor of English and linguistics at San José State University. She received both a bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in those fields.

Her first published story was called “Endgame”, launching her career as a writer of literature. After traveling to China with her mother in 1987, Tan wrote her most famous work, The Joy Luck Club, a novel about mothers and daughters.

The book has been translated in 17 languages, including Chinese and paperback rights sold for $1.23 million.

Fun fact?
Amy was the Creative Consultant for Sagwa, the Emmy-nominated television series for children, which has aired worldwide, including in the UK, Latin America, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, and Singapore.

Ms Tan has lectured internationally at universities, including Stanford, Oxford, Jagellonium, Beijing, and Georgetown both in Washington DC and Doha, Qatar. The National Endowment for the Arts has chosen The Joy Luck Club for its 2007 “Big Read” program. Ms Tan also serves as the Literary Editor for the Los Angeles Times magazine, West.

Source

http://www.amytan.net/ATBiography.aspx

http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/tan0bio-1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Tan

Image from: http://meyerhoff.goucher.edu/cwpromo/kratz/AmyTan/AmyTan.htm

Iconic Olympic figure skater, Kristi Yamaguchi

Kristi Yamaguchi has overcome a lot to become an Olympian athlete. She was born in July 12, 1971 with the turned-in foot syndrome (or Metatarsus Adductus, MTA). At 4, her parents enrolled her in ballet lessons and at 6, in skating lessons, to strengthen her legs and improve her coordination. At age 8, Kristy began a rigorous ice skating training program and got up at 4:00am to practice before school.

 

Her hero? Figure skater Dorothy Hamill who won a gold medal in the 1976 Olympics.

In 1992, Kristi became the first American woman to win the Olympic gold in figure skating since Dorothy.

In Kristi’s own words,

“Winning the Olympic title is one of the proudest moments of my life. And I’m extremely proud to have represented the Olympic movement and the United States at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. This was a wonderful opportunity for not only Americans to see the world’s finest athletes but for the world to see America at its best.”

Yamaguchi also holds 2 World Figure Skating Championships in 1991 and 1992 and a U.S. Figure Skating Championships in 1992. She has one a junior world title in 1988 and two national titles in 1989 and 1990 as a pairs skater with Rudy Galindo.

In December 2005, she was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame.

Source

http://goldsea.com/Personalities/Inspiring/yamaguchik.html

http://kristiyamaguchi.com/bio/index.html

http://www.uen.org/utahlink/tours/tourElement.cgi?element_id=29776&tour_id=15744&category_id=24898

Image from: http://www.themiamiproject.org/x819.xml