Daisuke Nakano (中野 大輔, Nakano Daisuke, born 10 October 1982 in Niigata) is a retired Japanese gymnast.[1] He helped his Japanese gymnastics team claim a gold medal in the all-around competition at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.

Daisuke Nakano
Country represented Japan
Born (1982-10-10) 10 October 1982 (age 42)
Niigata, Japan
Height1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Weight58 kg (128 lb)
DisciplineMen's artistic gymnastics
Years on national team2003–2005
ClubKyushu Kyoritsu University
Head coach(es)Tanji Horiuchi
Medal record
Men's artistic gymnastics
Representing  Japan
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2004 Athens Team

Career

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Nakano started a sporting career under the influence of his sister and his parents, both of whom were former gymnasts. He attended Nippon Sport Science University in Setagaya, Tokyo, and grew as an independent gymnast. He had a natural talent for the sport, and the physical ability to try a "triple back" dismount on the parallel bars. Even though he had a good potential, Nakano could not produce a satisfied result because he committed numerous mistakes in the sport. In 1999, Nakano broke a thighbone at the Japanese national championships, almost prompting his decision to desist the sport.

Nakano was named to the Japanese gymnastics team for the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea, but he injured a left anterior cruciate ligament at the national championships which made him impossible to compete. In 2003, Nakano made his official debut at the Summer Universiade in Daegu, where he placed third as a member of the Japanese team in the team all-around competition.

Nakano qualified as part of the Japanese gymnastics team at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens by receiving an official place from the NHK Cup in Tokyo. On the first day of the Games, he occupied one of the top two spots in the horizontal bar (9.775) and in the parallel bars (9.800), after producing stellar performances for each in the prelim stage.[2] In the team all-around, Nakano ended a 28-year-old drought to capture the gold medal for Japan, joining on top of the podium by Isao Yoneda, Hiroyuki Tomita, Naoya Tsukahara, Hisashi Mizutori, and Takehiro Kashima.[3] During the competition, Nakano performed only a floor exercise in a score of 9.412 to sum up the team's total of 173.821.[4] During the individual stages, Nakano failed to medal in any of his apparatus exercises, finishing fifth in the parallel bars (9.762), sixth in the floor (9.712), and ninth in the horizontal bar (8.750).[5][6][7]

References

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  1. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Daisuke Nakano". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  2. ^ Tzortzis, Andreas (16 August 2004). "US poised to end 20-year drought in men's gymnastics". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  3. ^ Sarkhar, Pritha (17 August 2004). "Tsukahara emulates father's success". Independent Online (South Africa). Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  4. ^ "Men's Artistic Gymnastics Team All-Around". Athens 2004. BBC Sport. 17 August 2004. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  5. ^ "Shewfelt claims floor gold". BBC Sport. 22 August 2004. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  6. ^ "Ukrainian Goncharov picks up parallel bars Olympic gold". People's Daily. 24 August 2004. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  7. ^ "Italian Igor Cassina wins horizontal bar Olympic gold". People's Daily. 24 August 2004. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
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