Skip to main content

Still Waiting for the Return of Noguchi

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20090807-00000131-jij-spo

translated by Brett Larner

Athens Olympics women's marathon gold medalist Mizuki Noguchi (Team Sysmex), who withdrew shortly before the Beijing Olympics women's marathon with an injury, revealed on Aug. 7 that despite hopes of a genuine comeback she is still unable to train nearly a full year after the original injury. Her coach Nobuyuki Fujita, in Tokyo for an event at Komazawa Park, commented, "Noguchi hasn't returned to the point yet where she can run for more than about half an hour."

According to Fujita, the pain Noguchi has experienced in her left hip and thigh for the last year is gone, but she has just started jogging again for 30 minutes at a time and is far from peak condition. Because of the injury, "Her muscles have grown stiff and her movement isn't good." Asked about a comeback race, Fujita said, "When she is able to jog for 60 to 90 minutes then we'll think about the next step," emphasizing that Noguchi's future plans are a blank slate.

In June and again in late July Noguchi visited the National Institute of Sports Science (JISS) for measurements of muscular strength in her legs.
Labels:

Comments

Roberto said…
Has any Japanese newspaper/magazine/website published something about Noguchi's injuries that contains anything but her and her coach's reports? The reports I've seen have been extremely vague, and I wonder if any investigative reporting has been done. Also, has anyone published anything critical of her/her coach's decision to keep secret the extent of her injuries until it was too late to send a replacement to Beijing last year?
August 10, 2009 at 1:08 PM
Brett Larner said…
I recall there being some criticism of Fujita at the time last year, but I think the strongest criticism, although indirect, came in the form of Rikuren taking explicit steps to improve communication about athletes' condition and potential injuries. To be fair, though, that wasn't just in reaction to Fujita/Noguchi but also to the three other athletes who were in various stages of breakdown but remained on the Beijing starting list.
August 11, 2009 at 3:02 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

'Kobe 2024: Aitchison, Athmani Lead Record-Breaking Thursday'

  https://www.paralympic.org/news/kobe-2024-para-athletics-world-championships-aitchison-athmani-lead-record-breaking-thursday Complete results and daily schedule from the Kobe World Para Athletics Championships are here .
Post a Comment
Read more

Osako Breaks Marathon NR for 3rd Time - Weekend Roundup

It looked like it was going to be a big weekend, and it delivered. For the 3rd time in his career Suguru Osako broke the men's marathon NR, running 1 second under the standing record to take 4th in the Valencia Marathon in 2:04:55. All the way to 40 km he was steady on 2:58/km, 2:05:10 pace, and like a surprising number of other people in both the men's and women's races, there was a massive jump over the last 2.195 km from his projected finish time to his actual one. His run put Osako back on top of the Japanese charts, put the average of Japan's 10 fastest marathon times of the year under 2:06 for the first time, and got him into the L.A. Olympics marathon trials. Valencia has been trying to get top-tier Japanese athletes to come for years, and now that they finally managed to do it it paid off in a big way. Expect more next year. Back home, former Takushoku University captain Derese Workneh won a 3-way race against Toyota teammates Kazuya Nishiyama and Bedan Ka...
4 comments
Read more

'Kobe 2024: Monday Sees Shocking Wins on the Track and the Field'

  https://www.paralympic.org/news/kobe-2024-para-athletics-world-championships-monday-sees-shocking-wins-track-and-field Complete results and daily schedule from the Kobe World Para Athletics Championships  are here .
Post a Comment
Read more