Competing in the Olympics is not an easy task. It requires you to be the best at the sport in the whole country to represent the nation in such an enormous event.
People from all over the world have their sights on the athletes so they have to bring out their heart and soul while competing for a chance at significant achievement.
While the athletes were displaying their true strength and talent, a particular young Volleyball player from Japan seems to have piqued the interest of many viewers. Ran Takahashi, who plays on Japan’s men’s national volleyball team, is certainly an interesting personality.
Takahashi has amassed hundreds of followers this Olympics over his stunning looks on different social media platforms such as TikTok and Twitter where video compilations and his photos from the court are being shared.
“what’s on your mind?” oh nothing, just 19-year-old japanese volleyball player, Ran Takahashi, who plays as wing spiker/outside hitter in the Japan men’s national volley ball team pic.twitter.com/Uwh23P8Htb
— 𝖘𝖎𝖇☕️ (@sib_latte) July 29, 2021
His looks also come in favour due to his mixed heritage. His mother is half-Japanese and half-German while he also has British ancestry mixed in.
can we talk about how beautiful ran takahashi is 🥺 pic.twitter.com/sZpQ9pJVF6
— skye. (@kyoharukei) July 29, 2021
i’d do anything for that boy #rantakahashi <3 pic.twitter.com/Nc1iFEVgBf
— sofia 🏳️🌈 (@bisehine) July 30, 2021
i’m canadian but ran takahashi is more important than my home country pic.twitter.com/0fHVbPfQon
— jadon ι(｀ロ´)ノ (@musenkunn) July 27, 2021
According to his profile on the official site of Tokyo Olympics 2020, he is a student studying at Nippon Sport Science University, Tokyo. He took up the sport in his second grade of primary school.
He was also the captain of the Nippon Sport Science University Volleyball team and the team won the 2020 All Japan Intercollegiate Volleyball Championship where Ran Takahashi was awarded as the Best Scorer.
春高バレー決勝
20200112@武蔵野の森#春高バレー#東山高校#高橋藍 選手 pic.twitter.com/7t8Z0uB29V— Mi_Mi (@b_thannever) January 20, 2020
His brother also competed in volleyball at the university level and has played for Nippon University. While he was seven, he went to see his older brother Rui Takahashi training and was asked by the coach to try serving a ball. After succeeding on a float serve, he was persuaded by the coach to take up the sport and now he is a wing-spiker for the Japan National Volleyball team.
全日本インカレ準決勝🏐
日本大×日体大で髙橋塁・藍の兄弟対決が実現✨
高校まではチームメイトだった2人がはじめてコートを挟んで対戦しました☀️
結果は日体大のストレート勝利👍
あさって、同じく順天堂大にストレート勝ちした早稲田大との決勝に挑みます☀️ pic.twitter.com/MVc9FKRhoZ— フジテレビ☆バレーボール (@fujitv_volley1) December 4, 2020
The site also mentions the athlete has a hobby of playing the guitar quite often.
THIS RAN TAKAHASHI pic.twitter.com/K6aZCZk2le
— ً rai (@neosforever) July 28, 2021
Even though he is just 19 at age, his skills are very refined. Standing at 1.88m tall he can jump up to 3.43m.
One of the highlights of his Olympic debut was definitely when he faked a spike and turned it into a set just like in the famous volleyball anime “Haikyuu!!”. The internet went crazy after seeing their favourite anime moment come to real-life plus Ran also said that his favourite Haikyuu!! The character was Hinata Shoyo!
bullet serve to force free ball for japan and then pulling off a fake set for ishikawa to score. ran takahashi deserves this olympic stint just after graduating highschool. absolute monster rookie
https://t.co/2HV9bdbvrK— 🍠 (@hahaparangtanga) July 28, 2021
Japan reached the quarter-finals for the first time in 29 years but sad to say that was the end of the journey for this year’s Tokyo Olympics for the Japanese Volleyball team as they lost 3-0 to Brazil on August 3rd.