Ai ÅŒtomo

As of August 21, 2012

Ai Otomo - Yamamoto (Japanese大 友( -山 本)爱, born March 24, 1982 in Sendai as Ai Otomo ) is a Japanese volleyball player. She participated in two Olympic Games and won the bronze medal in 2012.

Career

Otomo - Yamamoto began her career at the Sendaiikuei High School. In 1999, she won the U-18 World Cup with the Japanese youth. In 2000 she came to NEC Red Rockets. The following year she made her debut at the tournament in Montreux in the Japanese national team. With the club, she was runner-up in 2002 Japanese. Then, the middle blocker participated in the World Cup in Germany. 2003 and 2004 she won with NEC Red Rockets each title in the Japanese league. In Athens, she reached the quarter-finals of the national team and thus the fifth place of the Olympic tournament in 2004. A year later, Japan was third in the Asia Cup. After Otomo - Yamamoto had paused from 2006 to 2008, she played one season with Hisamitsu Springs and in 2009 was runner-up. The same success she succeeded in 2010 with their new club, JT Marvelous. In the 2010 World Cup they came up with Japan in third place. In 2011 she again won the championship. Internationally, it was second in the Asia Cup, but missed because of a knee injury the World Cup. In 2012 she took part in the London Olympics and won the bronze medal.

Private

Otomo - Yamamoto married 2006 beach volleyball player Tatsuo Yamamoto. In the same year she broke off her athletic career because of a pregnancy.