Buddhist Monk Competing in the Olympics

One of the Olympic events today is the Equestrian Individual Eventing, look out for Kenki Sato who is competing for Japan. Kenki is a Buddhist monk from the Myoshoji temple in the mountains near Nagano, where his father, Shodo, is the 25th master of the 460-year-old temple and adjacent horse-riding club.

Kenki is following his younger brother Eiken, who also trained as a priest and rode at the Beijing Games. His sister, Tae, 24, is a five-time national show-jumping champion.

Here Kenki is pictured making a lap of honour with his horse Toy Boy and the two gold medals he won in individual and team jumping at the 16th Asian Games in 2010.