Rika Usami - The Undisputed Queen of Karate Kata -2012 Final World Championships Paris

Rika Usami (宇佐美 里香, Usami Rika, born February 20, 1986) is a Japanese karateka. She won a Gold medal in individual kata at the 2012 World Karate Championships after previously winning Bronze at the 2010 Championships. She also won Gold in the same category at the 2010 Asian Games. As of March 2021, Usami is coaching the karate team at Kokushikan University. Usami was born on February 20, 1986 in Tokyo, Japan. She had said in an interview that she started karate when she was 10 years old by joining a Goju-ryu-style dojo located near her family’s house in Tokyo, after seeing a female fighter on television. Her older brother had been practicing karate and let Usami wear his karate gi on occasions, so that helped her a lot when she decided to eventually start practicing karate herself. Usami’s first karate tournament was when she was a green belt at 12 years old in elementary school. Usami did not participate in big tournaments until age 15 and won her first