Saori Kimura
- Nickname
- Saori
- Club
- Toray Arrows
- Nationality
- Japan
- Birth Date
- 19/08/1986
- Birth Place
- Saitama, Japan
- Height
- 185 cm
- Weight
- 65 kg
- Hobbies
- Shopping, Cooking
- Favorite Book
- Fashion Magazines
- Favorite Athlete
- Football
Saori KIMURA Age: 29
Shirt number: 3
Height: 185cm
Position: Wing spiker
Nickname: Saori
The captain of the
Japan women’s national team
Saori Kimura was born on August 19th, 1986. She started to
play volleyball when she was 8 years old. She has played at Shimokitazawa
Seitoku High School and then Toray Arrows. After London Olympic Games she
decided to play in Turkey, Vakifbank Turk Telekom. After one season she changed
the club to Galatasaray Daikin and in 2014, she announced to come back to
Japan, Toray Arrows.
She was selected to
the Japan women’s national team when she was 17 years old. She played at
Athens, Beijing and London Olympic Games, and won the bronze medal at London
Olympic Games. In 2013 she was chosen a captain of the Japan women’s national
team and won the bronze medal at World Grand Champions Cup and the silver medal
at World Grand Prix in 2014.
Saori Kimura has
a very good reputation as an all-round volleyball player and she made her
international debut in volleyball at the age of 17, at the World Cup 2003 and
was called “Super Senior High-school girl” in those days. Despite a lack of
international experience, Saori played with great confident, in particular, her
instinctive sense of playing volleyball amazed everyone, even Yanagimoto, the former
head coach of Japan’s squad who led the team since
February 2003 and pretty experienced three Olympics in Athens 2004, in Beijing
2008 and in London in 2012 through these years.
Once more, Saori
competed in the Olympics in Athens, in Beijing and in 2012 and everyone placed more expectations on her
outstanding potential.
It hopes to be
the fourth time for Saori to compete at the Olympics after London under the
powerful leadership of Manabe, an enthusiastic head coach of Japan’s squad.
During these four years, she has improved not only her volleyball skills but
her mental strength as well.
Saori has a lot of respect for her mother. She loves processing any
photo.
One of Saori’s favourite
sports is a figure skating.
-End-