At 25, Misaki Emura is one of the best sabre fencers on the planet, and the Japanese flag bearer for the 2024 Olympics.
To fly the flag for Japan, which hosted the last Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021, the Japanese Olympic Committee has decided to entrust the role of flag bearer to fencer Misaki Emura and breaking dancer Shigeyuki Nakarai. The 25-year-old sabre fencer is indeed a great hope for a medal for the land of the rising sun. Double reigning world champion in individual, she is the first Japanese to win the gold medal in international competition, and only foil fencer Yūki Ōta had previously won a title for the country in fencing.
Misaki Emura has been in second place in the world rankings for the past two years, behind France’s Sara Balzer. The latter will be her main competitor for a gold medal in Paris. After the gold medal for the épée fencers in the team competition three years ago on home soil, Japan is dreaming of a second Olympic title in the discipline, the first in the individual category. Misaki Emura finished 13th in the competition in Tokyo, but she is no longer the same sabre fencer, and she will certainly be more dangerous for the French women than she was three years ago, both individually and in the team category.