The Japanese Olympic Committee is pleased to announce that it has held the JOC Sports Awards Ceremony for FY2016 and Olympic Concert 2017 at the Tokyo International Forum on 9 June 2017, prior to Olympic Day.
The Most Valuable Athlete Award, the most prestigious award among the JOC Annual Awards, was awarded to Kaori Icho who won her Olympic gold medal in female freestyle wrestling at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. She became the first female Olympian to win four consecutive titles in the same discipline.
The Merit Award was awarded to six athletes. Athletes who aim for the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games, such as Ikuma Horishima, double gold medalist of 2017 Freestyle Ski World Championships (Moguls and Dual Moguls); and Nao Kodaira, gold medalist and the first Japanese women to win the ISU World Sprint Speed Skating Championships; attended the ceremony.
The awarding ceremony and concert was held in the presence of JOC Council Members, JOC Executive Board Members, JOC Honorary Members, Worldwide Olympic Partners and Tokyo 2020 Sponsors.
For more information, please contact:
Japanese Olympic Committee
Public Affairs, Marketing & Strategic Planning Department
Tel: +81-3-3481-2258
Email: pressoffice@joc.or.jp
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