Arisa Tsubata

is a Japanese amateur boxer and nurse. After entering the sport in 2018, she won the 2019 Japanese national boxing championship in the middleweight category. Tsubata then garnered worldwide attention for her performance in the 2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony.

Biography Tsubata was born on 9 June 1993 to a Tahitian mother and a Japanese father. Her parents later split, with her father, Joji, taking custody over her and her three siblings. He encouraged Tsubata to take up nursing as a way to gain "life-long skills". She went to vocation school before becoming a nurse at Nishi Saitama Chuo Hospital in Tokorozawa, Saitama. After defeating her only competitor, she won the women's middleweight title at the Japan national boxing championship. In January 2020, she fought her first international match in a Kazakh training camp, which she lost and later said showed her she needed to gain more experience. Her performance went viral as many people found it relatable to their own situations, especially regarding physical activity.