Takako Shirai (白井貴子 ''Shirai Takako'',

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean **Korean dialects **See also: North–South differences in t ...

: 윤정순,

Hanja Hanja (; ), alternatively spelled Hancha, are Chinese characters used to write the Korean language. After characters were introduced to Korea to write Literary Chinese, they were adapted to write Korean as early as the Gojoseon period. () ...

: 尹貞順, born 18 July 1952) is a former

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

player from

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and 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 The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...

in Montreal. Shirai also helped Japan win the silver medal at the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...

in Munich. She was an outside hitter. 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. She was also key in Japan's gold medal win at the 1977 FIVB World Cup in Japan. In 2000, Shirai became an inductee of the International Volleyball Hall of Fame in

Holyoke, Massachusetts Holyoke is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, that lies between the western bank of the Connecticut River and the Mount Tom Range. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 38,247. Loca ...

National team

*1972 — 2nd place in the Olympic Games of Munich *1974 — 1st place in the

World Championship 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 ...

*1976 — 1st place in the Olympic Games of Montreal

References

External links

*
International Volleyball Hall of Fame profile

Volleybox.net profile

(archived) {{DEFAULTSORT:Shirai, Takako 1952 births Living people Japanese women's volleyball players Japanese people of Korean descent Volleyball players at the 1972 Summer Olympics Volleyball players at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic volleyball players for Japan Olympic gold medalists for Japan Olympic silver medalists for Japan Naturalized citizens of Japan Sportspeople from Okayama Olympic medalists in volleyball Asian Games medalists in volleyball Volleyball players at the 1970 Asian Games Volleyball players at the 1974 Asian Games Medalists at the 1970 Asian Games Medalists at the 1974 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for Japan Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics International Volleyball Hall of Fame inductees 20th-century Japanese sportswomen Volleyball players from Okayama Prefecture