is a retired Japanese

judo is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo") ...

ka. Kitada was born in

Shirahama, Wakayama is a town in Nishimuro District, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 20,704 in 11024 households and a population density of 100 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Geography Shirahama is located ...

and began judo at the age of 10. She graduated from

Nippon Sport Science University , abbreviated as , is a private university in Setagaya, Tokyo and Aoba-ku, Yokohama. The precursor of the school was founded in 1893, and it was chartered as a university in 1949. The school is known for the many famous athletes among its alumn ...

in 2001. In 2002, she participated

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until th ...

held in

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea ...

and won a gold medal in the Extra Lightweight category. Kitada also won a gold medal at Paris Super World Cup, Otto World Cup Hamburg and other international championships but did not participate in the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

mainly due to 7 times world champion Ryoko Tamura. In 2005, Kitada finally participated in the World Championships but was defeated by

Yanet Bermoy Yanet Bermoy Acosta (born 29 May 1987, in Cienfuegos) is a Cuban judo is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全� ...

from

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

and

Alina Alexandra Dumitru Alina Dumitru (; born 30 August 1982) is a Romanian judoka, one-time Olympic champion and eight-time European champion. At the 2008 Summer Olympics she defeated Japanese double gold medallist Ryoko Tani, who until then had been undefeated in maj ...

from

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

. In April 2006, Kitada retired. As of 2010, Kitada coaches judo at the Yoshida Dojo. and Shutoku High School.

References

Japanese female judoka People from Wakayama Prefecture 1978 births Living people Asian Games medalists in judo Judoka at the 2002 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for Japan Medalists at the 2002 Asian Games Universiade medalists in judo Universiade bronze medalists for Japan {{Japan-judo-bio-stub