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

The Ivy League at the Izumo Ekiden in Review

Last week I was contacted by Will Geiken , who I'd met years ago when he was a part of the Ivy League Select Team at the Izumo Ekiden . He was looking for historical results from Izumo and lists of past team members, and I was able to put together a pretty much complete history, only missing the alternates from 1998 to 2010 and a little shaky on the reverse transliterations of some of the names from katakana back into the Western alphabet for the same years. Feel free to send corrections or additions to alternate lists. It's interesting to go back and see some names that went on to be familiar, to see the people who made an impact like Princeton's Paul Morrison , Cornell's Max King , Stanford's Brendan Gregg in one of the years the team opened up beyond the Ivy League, Cornell's Ben de Haan , Princeton's Matt McDonald , and Harvard's Hugo Milner last year, and some of the people who struggled with the format. 1998 Team: 15th of 21 overall, 2:14:10 (43
Post a Comment
Read more

Hirabayashi Runs PB at Shanghai Half, WR Holder Nakata Dominates Fuji Five Lakes - Weekend Road Roundup

Returning to the roads after his 2:06:18 win at February's Osaka Marathon, Kiyoto Hirabayashi (Koku Gakuin University) took 5th at Sunday's Shanghai Half Marathon in a PB 1:01:23, just under a minute behind winner Roncer Kipkorir Konga (Kenya) who clocked a CR 1:00:29. After inexplicably running the equivalent of a sub-59 half marathon to win the Hakone Ekiden's Third Stage, Aoi Ota (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) was back to running performances consistent with his other PBs with a 1:02:30 for 8th. His AGU teammate Kyosuke Hiramatsu was 10th in 1:04:00. Women's winner Magdalena Shauri (Tanzania) also set a new CR in 1:09:57. Aoyama Gakuin runners took the top four spots in the men's half marathon at the Aomori Sakura Marathon , with Hakone alternate Kosei Shiraishi getting the win in 1:04:32 and B-team members Shunto Hamakawa and Kei Kitamura 2nd and 3rd in 1:04:45 and 1:04:48. Club runners took the other division titles, Hina Shinozaki winning the women's half
Post a Comment
Read more

Morii Surprises With Second-Ever Japanese Sub-2:10 at Boston

With three sub-2:09 Japanese men in the race and good weather conditions by Boston standards the chances were decent that somebody was going to follow 1981 winner Toshihiko Seko 's 2:09:26 and score a sub-2:10 at the Boston Marathon . But nobody thought it was going to be by a 2:14 amateur. Paris Olympic team member Suguru Osako had taken 3rd in Boston in 2:10:28 in his debut seven years ago, and both he and 2:08 runners Kento Otsu and Ryoma Takeuchi were aiming for spots in the top 10, Otsu after having run a 1:01:43 half marathon PB in February and Takeuchi of a 2:08:40 marathon PB at Hofu last December. A high-level amateur with a 2:14:15 PB who scored a trip to Boston after winning a local race in Japan, Yuma Morii told JRN minutes before the start of the race, "I'm not thinking about time at all. I'm going to make top 10, whatever time it takes." Running Boston for the first time Morii took off with a 4:32 on the downhill opening mile, but after that  Sis
Post a Comment
Read more