Skip to main content

No Decision for Noguchi Until Tuesday or Wednesday (updated)

http://beijing.yahoo.co.jp/news/detail/20080810-00000057-jij-spo#0
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20080810-00000928-san-spo
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20080810-00000936-san-spo

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Translator`s note: The section of quotes from the Aug. 10 press conference following the main article below has been updated and contains a fair amount of additional information.

Speaking at a press conference in Kyoto on Aug. 10, Mizuki Noguchi`s head coach Nobuyuki Fujita and Rikuren official Keisuke Sawaki addressed the defending Olympic marathon champion's condition and the possibility that she may withdraw from the Aug. 17 Beijing Olympics marathon, saying, "No decision will be made for another two or three days."

The press conference included Fujita, Sawaki, Noguchi's trainer Hisakazu Hirose and Rikuren marathon director Tadasu Kono. The conference began with an overview of Noguchi's situation by Sawaki, while Fujita followed with a further explanation. Sawaki told reporters, "While training in Switzerland, Noguchi began to feel that something was wrong with her left thigh. As a result she returned to Japan four days earlier than planned. She began receiving medical treatment on the 5th and yesterday also underwent MRI examination. Since returning to Japan her condition has been improving bit by bit, and this morning she was able to run much better than even yesterday."

Fujita commented, "While doing a long jog on July 25, Noguchi began to experience pain on the inside of her leg below her buttocks, leading us to change her practice on July 26 and 27 to walking only. She received painkiller tablets from a Swiss hospital, then an injection of a painkiller on July 30 when the pain did not subside. However, the necessary treatment facilities were unavailable in Switerland, so we left on the morning of Aug. 3, arriving in Kyoto and undergoing an MRI examination on Aug. 4. Noguchi received shots and other treatment beginning on the 5th. An additional MRI examination on the 9th revealed that she has sustained damage to her biceps femoris and semitendinosus, but compared to the results of the MRI on the 4th her condition is improving."

No decision will be made about Noguchi competing in the Aug. 17 Beijing Olympic Marathon for another two or three days. If she is unable to compete, team alternate Tomo Morimoto will not be elligible to fill her spot as she was not entered on the final Olympic team roster.

Following are questions and answers from the Aug. 10 press conference:

Q. What is the semitendinosus?
Sawaki: "It is a muscle to the inside of the biceps femoris. It got injured because Noguchi was compensating for the pain in her biceps femoris."

Q. What was the cause of her initial injury?
Fujita: "We don`t know. It could have been anything. There are various stresses."

Q. How bad is the pain?
Sawaki: "According to the doctor's observations, she is getting better and she should try hard to be able to race. In terms of just reducing the pain, compression by taping will work, but it doesn't mean she can run the race. If it were a sprint race, it would be easier to judge..."

Q: Was her training going well before she got injured?
Fujita: "I wouldn't say 100%, but not so far from that."

Q. Is her left leg still her weak point?
Fujita: "Her right leg was originally stronger. We thus tried to reinforce her left leg by weight training, but you cannot make both legs completely the same. Yes, there is a weakness."

Q. What will Noguchi's treatment be like from now?
Fujita: "The same low frequency wave treatment and ultrasonic wave treatment that we usually do."

Q. How much jogging can she do now?
Fujita: "The duration of her jogging is getting longer. It was 15 minutes before, but now 30 minutes."

Q. There is only 1 week left until the race.
Sawaki: "The situation is that even if Noguchi feels she is ready to give it everything she has, she might not be able to run. No decision will be made for another two or three days."

Q. What is Noguchi saying?
Fujita: "Her desire to run this race is very strong."

Q. Is there any possibility for an unrehearsed performance?
Hirose: "If she recovers enough to run within two or three days, it's possible. But even though she has a strong desire to run, she might not be able to finish. She has tried to run a couple of times, then had pain. We have to wait and see."

Q. Who will decide whether she runs?
Sawaki: "Noguchi, her coach and her trainer will decide together."

Q. What would be the criteria for the decision by her coach?
Fujita: "I would rather decide whether or not she can race from her movement than by how many days are left."

Q. If Noguchi is out, are we to expect only two runners for the Olympic women's marathon this time?
Kono: "We removed Morimoto from substitute duty on July 30 and it seems difficult to re-enter her as a runner at this point, but we are looking at the possibilities and are checking Morimoto's situation."

Comments

Most-Read This Week

More Changes Coming to the New Year Ekiden

The national corporate federation announced on Mar. 16 that beginning with the 71st edition of the New Year Ekiden men's national championship race on Jan. 1, 2027, teams will have a choice of stages that non-Japanese team members are eligible to run. The lengths of some stages will also be changed. Teams competing in the New Year Ekiden are restricted to fielding one non-Japanese athlete, and since 2009 foreign athletes have been restricted to running the event's shortest stage, the so-called "International Stage." Until 2023 that was the race's 2nd leg, but since 2024 it has been on its 7.6 km 4th stage. The federation had already announced the introduction of a seeded bracket like other major ekidens to improve the competition by creating deeper racing for place, not just for the lead, over the 2nd half of the race. Teams will now be able to choose whether to position their non-Japanese athletes on the 4th or 6th legs, increasing the opportunities for Japanese...

Japan's Team for World Indoor Championships

Japan is sending a team of 3 women and 7 men to this weekend's Kujaway Pomorze World Athletics Indoor Championships in Poland. A quick look at the lineup with best times in last 3 years: Women 3000 m   Nozomi Tanaka (New Balance) - 8:33.52 (2025) 60 mH Mako Fukube (NKK) - 8.02 (2026) Chisato Kiyoyama (Ichigo) - 8.09 (2026) Men 60 m Yoshihide Kiryu (Nihon Seimei) - 6.53 (2024) Yoshiki Kinashi (Tsukuba Univ. Grad School) - 6.60 (2026) 800 m Allon Tatsunami Clay (Penn State Univ.) - 1:45.17 (2026) 60 mH Shusei Nomoto (Ehime T&F) - 7.59 (2026) Ryota Fujii (Tottori Sports Assoc.) - 7.71 (2024) High Jump Naoto Hasegawa (Niigata Albirex RC) - 2.30 m (2026) Tomohiro Shinno (Kraftia) - 2.30 m (2026) © 2026 Brett Larner , all rights reserved

Hayashi Morozumi Steps Down as Tokai Head Coach

Hayashi Morozumi , 59, has stepped down as head coach at Tokai University following its 12th-place finish at this year's 102nd Hakone Ekiden. Morozumi will serve in an executive advisory role to Noriaki Nishide , 51, who moves up from the Tokai coaching staff to take on head coach duties. Morozumi came to at his alma mater Tokai in 2011 after serving at head coach at Nagano's Saku Chosei H.S. , where the team won the 2008 National High School Ekiden anchored by future marathon NR holder Suguru Osako . In 2019 Morozumi led Tokai to its first-ever Hakone title, making him the only coach to win both the biggest high school and college titles in his career. When Morozumi became head coach at Saku Chosei in 1995 he personally drove a bulldozer to build a cross-country loop at the school, combining his innovative coaching theory with deep passion to build the Saku Chosei program from zero to national championships in just 13 years. Along with Osako, now 34, some of his key proteges ...