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- While addressing the critics who have claimed her “Black card is revoked,” Osaka said, “African American isn’t the only Black, you know? I don’t know, I feel like people really don’t know the difference between nationality and race because there’s a lot of Black people in Brazil, but they’re Brazilian.”
- In an interview with Japanese broadcaster NHK in 2019, Osaka said she had a “special desire” to represent Japan at the Olympic Games: “I think that playing with the pride of the country will make me feel more emotional.”
- Osaka gave up her U.S. citizenship to compete for Japan at the Olympics.
- “We made the decision that Naomi would represent Japan at an early age,” Tamaki, Osaka’s mother, told The Wall Street Journal in 2018. She explained that Osaka and her sister, Mari, have strong cultural ties to Japan and “have always felt Japanese.”
- “It was never even a secret that I’m going to play for Japan for the Olympics,” Osaka said.
- Osaka, who recently won an ESPY Award, penned an essay for TIME Magazine earlier this month, explaining why she withdrew from the French Open in May and the Wimbledon championships in June.
- In her essay, Osaka said she is excited to compete at the Tokyo Olympics.