Keiko Tanaka-Ikeda (田中-池田 敬子, born Keiko Tanaka; November 11, 1933 – May 13, 2023) was the first Japanese female gymnast to win a world title, which she accomplished on the balance beam in 1954 (by becoming the first Asian female gymnast to win a world gold medal). For 63 years, she remained the only Japanese female gymnast who won a world gold medal - until Mai Murakami won the floor exercise at the 2017 World Championships. Tanaka-Ikeda won seven more medals at the world championships from 1958 to 1966. She also competed at the 1956, 1960, and 1964 Olympics in all artistic gymnastics events and won a team bronze medal in 1964; her best individual achievement was a fourth place on the floor in 1956.

In retirement she taught at Japan's Sports Science University and served as director of the Japanese Gymnastics Association. In 2002, she became the first Japanese woman to be inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

Keiko Tanaka-Ikeda

Tanaka-Ikeda died from brain cancer at a nursing home in Kawasaki, Kanagawa, on May 13, 2023, at the age of 89.

Keiko Tanaka-Ikeda

References

1933 births

2023 deaths

Japanese female artistic gymnasts

Olympic gymnasts for Japan

Gymnasts at the 1956 Summer Olympics

Gymnasts at the 1960 Summer Olympics

Gymnasts at the 1964 Summer Olympics

Olympic bronze medalists for Japan

Olympic medalists in gymnastics

Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics

Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships

Nippon Sport Science University alumni

Sportspeople from Hiroshima Prefecture

20th-century Japanese women

Deaths from brain cancer in Japan

Keiko Tanaka-Ikeda