Natsumi Tomonaga
Japanese modern pentathlete
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Early life
Natsumi Tomonaga was born on August 22, 1991, in Sayama City, Saitama Prefecture, Japan.[4]
She studied at Kawagoe Minami High School.[5]
After graduating from high school in 2011, Natsumi decided to follow in her parents' footsteps, who were both police officers, and joined the Metropolitan Police Academy.[6]
Career
Natsumi practiced both swimming and athletics and was a keen athlete, but it was after her breaking the academy's female record for running 1500 meters in 4 minutes and 55 seconds, that Natsumi was scouted for Modern Pentathlon and began training professionally in 2012.[7][8] A mere two years, later, Natsumi won the 54th Modern Pentathlon All Japan Championship.[6] The same year, 2014, she was selected as a member of the Japanese national team.[9][3]
In 2016, with only four years of experience, Natsumi represented Japan at the 2016 Rio Olympics and ranked 13th in women's modern pentathlon, the third highest for a Japanese athlete.[2][8] Shortly after the Olympics, Natsumi's rank was moved up from 13th to 12th due to the disqualification of a top player.[6]
At the 2016 World Cup she placed 6th, and in 2017, she placed 4th, renewing the highest ranking for a Japanese athlete.[8]
Natsumi continues to compete professionally, finishing 5th in the 2018 Asian Games organized in Jakarta-Palembang[10] and second in the 2019 UIPM 2019 Asia/Oceania Championships.[11]
In 2020, Natsumi qualified to represent Japan once again at the Tokyo Olympics 2020.[12] The same year, on December 24, she married one of her colleagues, changing her last name from Tomonaga to Takamiya.[13]
