Yuki Ota
is a Japanese foil fencer, gold medallist at the 2006 Asian Games, silver medallist at the 2008 Summer Olympics, team silver medallist at the 2012 Summer Olympics, and individual gold medallist at the 2015 World Fencing Championships. He is a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Career Yuki took up fencing in his elementary school years at the instigation of his father, a Zorro fan and keen amateur fencer. He won the national junior high school championships. In Heian High School, he got third consecutive championship victories in national high school championships. Ota climbed his first World Cup podium with a victory at the 2004 Tehran World Cup. He qualified for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, his first Olympic participation, but was defeated in the table of 16 by Russia's Renal Ganeyev. He later explained he had felt completely overpowered: "It was on a whole other level. In F1 terms, it was like the finalists were equipped with completely different engines." Demotivated, he was taken over in world rankings by friend and rival Kenta Chida, whom he always used to beat, and contemplated giving up competition to take a regular job. In 2006, Ota resumed training with Japan's