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Avenging Beijing! Ogata Joins Tokyo Marathon Lineup

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/flash/KFullFlash20090222081.html

translated by Brett Larner

On Feb. 22, Beijing Olympics men's marathon 13th place finisher Tsuyoshi Ogata (Team Chugoku Denryoku) announced that he will run next month's Tokyo Marathon after having pulled out of December's Fukuoka International Marathon and February's Marugame International Half Marathon with minor injuries. "[After the Olympics] I was a lot more tired than I thought and my condition kind of broke down," stated Ogata, "but now I plan to do the Tokyo Marathon." Commented on his remaining training for Tokyo, Ogata said, "I don't know if everything is going to go smoothly or not, but there's only a month left so I want to do whatever I can to be ready."

Translator's note: The Tokyo Marathon has not yet released details on its elite field for this year's race on Mar. 22. In theory the addition of substantial prize money and a women's race this year in Tokyo could mean a high quality elite field, but with the strength of the fields already announced for London, Boston and Rotterdam there are doubts about what foreign athletes Tokyo will be able pull in. As a selection race for the men's Berlin World Championships team Tokyo will have many top domestic runners, and in fact this year it seems to have drawn many domestic elites away from this week's selection race, the Biwako Mainichi Marathon (aka Lake Biwa Marathon).
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