Skip to main content

Takahashi to Make TV Commentator Debut at Tokyo Int'l Women's Marathon

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/news/p-sp-tp0-20081030-424120.html

translated by Brett Larner

2000 Sydney Olympics women's marathon gold medalist Naoko Takahashi (36, Team Phiten) will pay back her debt to the Tokyo International Women's Marathon on Nov. 16. Since announcing her retirement on Oct. 28, Takahashi's management office has booked her for over fifty appearances on TV and as a special guest at public events. It will all begin with Takahashi's debut as a television broadcast commentator at the Tokyo International Women's Marathon in which Takahashi was originally scheduled to compete.

This year's 30th anniversary edition of the Tokyo Int'l will be the event's final, as next year it will relocate to Yokohama. To commemorate the occasion, organizers will host a symposium titled "Women Runners' Trail of Dreams." 400 people applied to hear Takahashi speak along with a panel including marathon legends Akemi Matsuda, Nanae Sasaki, Mari Tanigawa, Junko Asari, and past winners of Tokyo.

On the day of the race Takahashi will also debut as a televsion commentator for the marathon's broadcast. Takahashi ran Tokyo three times, finishing 2nd in 2003, winning in 2005, and coming in 3rd in 2006. She knows the course intimately and will be able to provide unique inside into events as they unfold.

Takahashi's support crew Team Q, her lifestyle of staying in downtown hotels and having meals provided by sponsors, and everything to which she is accustomed is ending. From now on she will follow her own motivation from day to day, in both her training and her life. All things considered, it looks as though Takahashi's new life will be at least as busy as her old one.

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Hakone Champ AGU Hits 50 km a Day in Spring Break Training Camp

Having scored its 3rd-straight Hakone Ekiden win this past January, Aoyama Gakuin University spent the Golden Week spring holidays training on the Myoko Plateau in Niigata from May 2-6. Along with the champion men's ekiden team, the first 2 members of AGU's new women's long distance team Nodoka Ashida and Kairi Ikeno , and AGU alumni and 2026 New Year Ekiden champion GMO team members Yuya Yoshida and Asahi Kuroda also took part in the training camp. Depending on the day's training schedule, mileage at the camp was over 50 km a day. AGU men's captain Kaito Nakamura confidently said, "This Golden Week training camp is where we lay the foundations for our 4th-straight Hakone title." A lot of people spend Golden Week on vacation, but the AGU ekiden team spent their time working hard on Myoko's rolling land amid the sprouting leaves of spring. On the 2nd day of the camp, May 3, team members woke up at 5:00 a.m. to do their warmup. The team assembled a...

Ochiai, Kawamura, Usuki and Mishima Set NR - Golden Week Track Roundup

There was a lot of action on the track over Japan's Golden Week holidays. Highlights: Shizuoka International Meet - Fukuroi, 3 May Men's 800 m NR holder Ko Ochiai (Komazawa Univ.) broke his own record with a 1:43.90 win. Daigo Usuki (18 Ginko) and Gakuto Mishima (Nippatsu) both broke the NR in the T20 men's 400 m, Usuki getting the win in 49.08 and Mishima 2nd in 49.15. Lauren Bruce (New Zealand) threw a meet record 67.44 m on her final attempt in the women's hammer throw, but even her shortest throw of 64.31 m was over 3 m better than the rest of the field. Kazuki Kurokawa (Sumitomo Denko) got the men's 400 mH meet record with a 48.50 for the win. Women's 3000 mSC NR holder Miu Saito (Panasonic) won the steeple in 9:31.83, the 2nd-best time in her career so far, despite falling. 2nd through 4th all broke 10 minutes. National University Men's Ekiden Kanto Region Qualifier - Hiratsuka, 4 May The top 8 teams at November's National University Men...

Everything You Need to Know About the 2026 Hakone Ekiden

The Hakone Ekiden is the world's biggest road race, 2 days of road relay action with Japan's 20 best university teams racing 10 half marathon-scale legs from central Tokyo to the mountains east of Mount Fuji and back. The level just keeps going higher and higher , hitting the point this year where there are teams with 10-runner averages of 13:33.10 for 5000 m, 27:55.98 for 10000 m, and 1:01:20 for the half marathon. It's never been better, and with great weather in the forecast it's safe to say this could be one of the best races in Hakone's 102-year history, especially on Day One. If you've seen it then you know NTV's live broadcast is the best sports broadcast in the world, with the pre-race show kicking off at 7:00 a.m. Japan time on the 2nd and 3rd and the race starting at 8:00 a.m. sharp. If you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it on TVer starting at 7:50 a.m. on the 2nd , and again at 7:50 a.m. on the 3rd . There's even a 2-hour high...