is a Japanese swimmer who won a bronze medal in the 200 m breaststroke at the

2005 World Aquatics Championships The 2005 World Aquatics Championships () or the XI FINA World Championships were held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from July 16 to July 31, 2005. They took place in Parc Jean-Drapeau on Saint Helen's Island. Competition Medal standings :''o ...

. He finished 11th in the same event at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

Biography

Imamura was named after the main character of the sports

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

Ganbare Genki is a Japanese sports manga by Yū Koyama about Genki Horiguchi, a boy who is raised by a single father, and who wants to be a boxer like him. It was adapted as an anime television series by Toei Animation. The manga received the Shogakukan ...

''. At first, he competed in

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

, and only in high school started seriously training in swimming. In 2004, at the national championships he finished second after

Kosuke Kitajima is a Japanese retired breaststroke swimmer. He won gold medals at the men's 100 m and 200 m breaststroke events at the 2004 Summer Olympics, and the 2008 Summer Olympics – becoming the first and only swimmer to sweep the breaststroke events at ...

in the 200 m breaststroke. He thus qualified for the 2004 Olympics, but did not reach the finals. His peak came in 2005 when he won the national title in 200 m breaststroke, beating Kitajima, and finished second in the 100 m breaststroke. He then won a bronze medal at the World Championships, a bronze medal at the

Universiade The FISU World University Games, formerly the Universiade, is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The former name is a Blend word, portmanteau of the wor ...

, and three medals at the

2005 East Asian Games The 4th East Asian Games was an international multi-sport event for countries in East Asia which was held in Macau from October 29 to November 6, 2005. Host city At the 11th EAGA Council Meeting held in Guam in March 1996, Macau, then a Portugue ...

References

1982 births Living people People from Tomisato Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Tokai University alumni Olympic swimmers for Japan Japanese male breaststroke swimmers World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Summer World University Games medalists in swimming FISU World University Games bronze medalists for Japan Medalists at the 2005 Summer Universiade 21st-century Japanese sportsmen {{Japan-swimming-bio-stub