On the evening of August 1st, Yuki Tanaka competed in the semi-finals of the Paris Olympics™ Canoe Slalom Kayak Single. He is 22 years old and from Nakatsugawa City, Gifu Prefecture.

Following in the footsteps of canoeing legend Takuya Haneda, he secured his first spot on the Olympic team.

Haneta has had a high opinion of Tanaka since he appeared on a CBC TV program seven years ago.

(Haneda)
“Of course, he’s been getting better and better over the last couple of years, and we sometimes paddle together at the same practice range.”

At the time, Tanaka mainly practiced at the public swimming pool, but two years ago, his idol, Haneda, became his training partner.

He learned the “Water Breathing” technique directly from Haneta and placed 20th in the preliminary round with a score of 91.78. He advanced to the semi-finals, where the top 20 qualifiers competed.

Before the tournament, Tanaka had a conversation with Haneda about what to eat during the tournament…

(Haneda) “There is a cafeteria where players from all over the world can gather and enjoy a variety of meals, and there are dishes from each region…”
(Tanaka) “Do they have Japanese food?”
(Haneda) “There’s Japanese food too.”
(Tanaka) “Huh?!”
(Haneda) “There’s also sushi and other things.”
(Tanaka) “Is there sushi?”
(Haneda) “There were also gyoza and other things.”
(Tanaka) “Gyoza!!”

Then, Haneda gave us one word of caution…

(Haneda) “But there’s always a line to get the good food.”
(Tanaka) “Oh, I see.”
(Haneda) “You might have to wait in line for a bit…”
(Tanaka) “I want to go for gyoza. I’ll wait in line.”
(Haneda) “Laughter”
(Tanaka) “Let’s eat gyoza together.”

Tanaka will use food from around the world as his strength to compete in the semi-finals on the evening of August 1st.