The Japan Karatedo Federation announced on Thursday that kata legend and Olympic champion Ryo Kiyuna is retiring from competition. Kiyuna, 32, is perhaps the greatest karate kata competitor in history. His performance of the traditional ohan dai form won him the first ever Olympic gold medal for kata at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
Born in the birthplace of karate, Okinawa, Kiyuna started practicing at the age of five. But his career began in earnest as a teenager when he commenced training with former world champion Tsuguo Sakamoto in the comparatively rare Okinawan style of ryuei-ryu. Kiyuna would go on to set records with his success becoming the only man to ever win four world championships, in 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2021, along with two team kata world championships and 10 straight Japanese national titles from 2012-2021.
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