| Rank | Event | Year | Location | |
| Olympic Games | ||||
| 4 | Senior | 2008 | Beijing, CHN | |
| 5 | Senior | 1996 | Atlanta, GA, USA | |
| FIFA Women's World Cup | ||||
| 1 | Senior | 2011 | Germany | |
| Asian Games | ||||
| 1 | Senior | 2010 | Guangzhou, CHN | |
Nickname
'Sawa' or 'Homa'. (JS Goal, 16 Oct 2006)
Hobbies
Watching films, reading and taking her dog for walks. (FIFA, 04 Jun 2004)
Language(s) spoken
Japanese
Club name
INAC Kobe, Japan
Coach
Kei Hoshikawa (JPN) (inac-kobe.com, 29 Feb 2012)
Position and style
Midfield (FIFA, 16 Oct 2003)
Debut
1993 for Japan, against Philippines, Asian Championship (Malaysia) (JFA, 07 Mar 2008)
Injuries
She suffered a leg muscle injury in January 2007 and was on the sidelines for two months. (FIFA, 18 Oct 2007)
Additional information
Start of sporting career
She took up football at age six. (FIFA, 04 Jun 2004)
Reason for taking up this sport
She was watching her older brother train when his coach invited her to join in. (FIFA, 18 Oct 2007)
Ambitions
If she wasn't a footballer she would have liked to have been a swimmer, and would one day like to become a lawyer. (FIFA 04 Jun 2004)
Hero
Footballers Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly and Thierry Henry. (FIFA, 04 Jun 2004)
Superstitions / Rituals
She juggles the ball while she's warming up before training and matches. "When I was little, my coach said you have to juggle every day. So I juggled every day in practice and after school. I still do it while I'm warming up," she said. (FIFA, 04 Jun 2004)
Sporting philosophy / motto
"Dream is not to have, it is to make come true." (soccer-king.jp, 17 Jul 2011)
Awards
She claimed her first FIFA Women's World Player of the Year award [Ballon d'Or] in January 2012. (FIFA.com, 09 Jan 2012)
She won the Golden Boot [top scorer] and the Golden ball [best player] at the Women's World Cup in 2011. (cbc.ca, 17 Jul 2012)
Voted the Most Valuable Player at the 2008 AFC Women's Asia Cup. (Japan Team Handbook 2008)
Has been voted to the Japanese League's Best Eleven in 1993, 1995-1998 and 2005-2007. (Japan Team Handbook 2008)
She was named the Japanese League's Most Valuable Player in 2006. (JFA, 07 Mar 2008)
She was named the Asian Football Confederation's Women's Player of the Year in 2004 and 2008. (JFA, 07 Mar 2008)
General
EARLY STARTER
She made her first appearance in Japan's elite women's league at just 12 years of age. Two years later, she made her senior international debut against the Philippines and scored four goals. (FIFA 18 Oct 2007)
Previous Olympics
Beijing 2008, Athens 2004, Atlanta 1996
