Taku Hiraoka Explained

Taku Hiraoka
Birth Date:	29 October 1995^[1]
Birth Place:	Gose, Nara
Country:	Japan
Sport:	Snowboarding
Height:	171cm (67inches)
Weight:	63kg (139lb)

is a Japanese snowboarder, from Gose, Nara.

He won silver in the halfpipe at the 2013 FIS Snowboarding World Championships.^[2] In the 2014 Winter Olympics, he won a bronze in the halfpipe.Later in 2014, he came in second behind American Taylor Gold in the Red Bull Double Pipe.^{[3] [4]}

At the 2015 Winter X Games held in Aspen, Colorado Hiraoka won the silver medal in the Superpipe in finishing second behind American snowboarder Danny Davis' Gold medal effort.^[5]

On October 27, 2020, Hiraoka was found guilty and given a 30-month suspended prison sentence in a hit and run case that occurred the previous year and had injured 6 people. Hiraoka had been driving under the influence of alcohol and fled the scene after the accident.^[6]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Taku HIRAOKA . sochi2014.com . Organizing Committee of the XXII Olympic Winter Games . 16 February 2014.
2. News: Crawford's World Championship silver medal . . 21 January 2013 . 2013-01-27 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130201101506/http://www.owia.org/sport/snowboard/news/crawford-s-world-championship-silver-medal . 1 February 2013 .
3. Web site: Nate Hoppes . Taylor Gold Wins Red Bull Double Pipe . Redbull.com . March 23, 2014 . April 5, 2014.
4. Web site: Kelly Clark & Taylor Gold Win 2014 US Open Halfpipe Titles . 7skymagazine.ch . March 11, 2014 . April 5, 2014.
5. Web site: Aspen 2015 Men's Snowboard SuperPipe . https://web.archive.org/web/20150123080053/http://xgames.espn.go.com/events/2015/aspen/results/400608549/men-snowboard-superpipe . dead . January 23, 2015 .
6. Web site: 2020-10-29 . Olympic medalist Taku Hiraoka convicted in hit-and-run case . 2023-05-23 . The Japan Times . en-US.