Skip to main content

Noguchi Begins Preparation for Beijing Olympic Gold

http://www.sanspo.com/sports/top/sp200711/sp2007112002.html

translated by Brett Larner

The morning after winning the Tokyo International Women`s Marathon in a course record time of 2:21:37, Mizuki Noguchi (29, Team Sysmex), was still in Tokyo for interviews about her plans for becoming the first woman to repeat as Olympic gold medallist.

Noguchi achieved victory in large part thanks to the strength of her muscular thighs. The day before, Noguchi became the first woman to break 17 minutes on the course`s severe uphill from 35 km to 40 km, running 16:56. She showed the strength and spirit which will be necessary for a win in Beijing. She said, "I want to do the kind of training that will help me find a new level."

The night before winning her first full marathon after 2 years away from the event, Noguchi was in a bar drinking champagne with her coach Nobuyuki Fujita. Noguchi doesn`t drink much, but said, "This alcohol reminds me of the feeling I had after [setting the Japanese national record in Sept. `05 at] the Berlin Marathon. Next up is my ticket to Beijing." The champagne is by way of an early celebration of her impending Olympic trip.

Noguchi intends to stay outside the Athlete Village in Beijing in her own `gold medal territory.` Noguchi`s staff are planning to visit Beijing in December to scout for a place for Noguchi to stay. Fujita explained, "At the Athens Olympics we spent around 12,000,000 yen ($120,000 U.S.) on private accomodations. It`s probably going to be the same in Beijing."

Noguchi believes in keeping things the same throughout her training. Even this morning, the day after the marathon, Noguchi woke up at 6:00 to run for 50 minutes around the Imperial Palace, saying "Today I`m going to a famous onsen with my own bath in my room. It`s pretty amazing so I want to get going early."

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox  for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...

National University Championships Day 1 Highlights

There weren't any new meet records on the opening day of this year's National University Track and Field Championships in Yokohama, but some of the favorites still turned in good performances. Ranked #1 in the women's 1500 m, Airi Tajima (Juntendo Univ.) outran #3-ranked teammate Miori Kida for the win 4:14.81 to 4:17.57, with #4-ranked Mana Aiba (Daito Bunka Univ.) 3rd in 4:18.08 Juntendo took the top 2 spots in the men's 1500 m too, with #3-ranked Shuntaro Kawaguchi bettering #1-ranked teammate Takumi Nakagawa for the title 3:45.15 to 3:45.86. #5-ranked Soya Mizuno (Ritsumeikan Univ.) got past #2-ranked Koki Terada (Chuo Univ.) for 3rd in 3:46.00. The race walks saw upset wins. Ibuki Hori (Kansai Univ.) beat #2-ranked Toko Nakajima (Waseda Univ.) by 0.47 for the women's title in 21:44.38. After opening a lead late in the race Yushi Nakajima (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) got passed by Riku Kaneko (Kokushikan Univ.) in the last 200 m and finished 2nd in the ...