Maki Tabata

www.e-tabata.net/MakiBlog
www.facebook.com/maki.tabata.526

Reason for choosing this sport	Every student at her school did the sport after an ice rink was built there.
When and where did you begin this sport?	She took up the sport in year one of primary school in Mukawa, Japan.

Most influential person in career	Japanese speed skater Seiko Hashimoto. (Athlete, 27 Jan 2017)
Hero / Idol	Japanese speed skater Seiko Hashimoto. (Athlete, 27 Jan 2017)
Sporting philosophy / motto	"Continuity becomes power." (Athlete, 27 Jan 2017)
Other sports	She has represented Japan in cycling track. She won gold in the 3km individual pursuit at the 2012 Asian Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (SportsDeskOnline, 04 Nov 2015; sankei.jp.msn.com. 25 Feb 2012)
Injuries	She required surgery in September 2005 after her fingers got caught in the wheel of her bicycle while she was trying to fix it. She returned to training the following month. (kensup.co.jp, 2012) She fractured her left ankle in 1997, which prevented her from competing at the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano. (Athlete, 30 Nov 2013, 27 Jan 2017; sponichi.co.jp, 01 Dec 2005)
Awards and honours	In 2014 she was given a Special Award by the Tomakomai Amateur Sports Association in Japan. (tomamin.co.jp, 05 Jun 2014) In 2011 she received the Big Sports Special Award at the Asahi TV Big Sports Awards Ceremony in Japan. (career.oricon.co.jp, 14 Jan 2011) She received a Special Achievement Award at the 2009 Japanese Olympic Committee [JOC] Sports Awards Ceremony. (nikkei.com, 11 May 2010) In 2010 she was presented with the Toyama Prefecture Citizen's Honorary Award in Japan. (pref.toyama.jp, 04 Mar 2010) She was named the 1999/00 Skater of the Year in Japan. (NOC, 11 Feb 2002)
Ambitions	To compete at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. (hochi.new, 25 Apr 2020)
Other information	CYCLING She struggled to find the motivation to continue skating following the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. She had done a lot of cycling as part of her training, and was encouraged to take up the sport more seriously by the president of her company. She aimed to participate as a cyclist at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, but she was not selected for the national team. She realised that skating was still more important to her than cycling, and set a new goal of representing Japan at the 2014 and 2018 Olympic Winter Games. "If I'd had two bodies, I could've competed at the 2012 Games. Although I'm back skating, I believe I'll take up cycling again someday." (skatingjapan.or.jp, 01 Dec 2014; kensup.co.jp, 2012)