Skip to main content

Noguchi in Boulder: "I'm Running Strong Again"

http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2011120900213

translated by Brett Larner

Aiming to qualify for the Japanese women's marathon team for next year's London Olympics, Athens Olympics marathon gold medalist and national record holder Mizuki Noguchi (Team Sysmex) talked about her marathon training on Dec. 8 at her base in Boulder, Colorado.  She appeared happy and optimistic as she said, "I'm running well.  I feel nearly as good and strong as I did before the Beijing Olympics."

Aiming for January's Osaka International Women's Marathon, the second of Japan's domestic Olympic selection races, Noguchi began altitude training in November.  Her training has gone smoothly and she has gotten through all the key workouts on the menu, including days on which she has run nearly 60 km.  Before the Beijing Olympics, where she had hoped to defend her Olympic title, she suffered an injury to her upper left leg and was forced to withdraw.  The years since then have been filled with disappointment and serial injuries, and Noguchi's sincerity and depth of feeling was clear when she said, "I'm so, so happy to be doing this kind of tough training again."

Looking toward the Osaka International Women's Marathon, which will be her first marathon in more than four years, Noguchi hinted at an aggressive race plan when she said, "Of course I'm nervous about it, but I don't want to run defensively.  I want to be assertive and take this on in a 'London at all costs' state of mind."

Comments

Kevin said…
The field wasn't strong in Osaka last year. Just 5 people run under 2:30:00 MIzuki might make the team because of the weak Osaka 2012 field.

Most-Read This Week

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 ...

JAAF Announces Marathon Teams for Nagoya Asian Games

On Mar. 25 the JAAF announced Japan's marathon team lineups for this fall's Nagoya Asian Games. Yuya Yoshida (GMO) and Ichitaka Yamashita (Mitsubishi Juko) make up the men's team, with Sayaka Sato (Sekisui Kagaku) and Mikuni Yada (Edion) representing Japan in the women's marathon. Each country can field up to 2 men and 2 women per marathon team at the Asian Games. The top-ranked male and female athletes in the 2025-26 MGC Series rankings were given first priority, with the second slots going to people with high-level performances in the 2025-26 MGC Series. Yoshida ran 2:05:16 to win the 2024 Fukuoka International Marathon, and at February's Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon ran an excellent 2:06:59 to take the top Japanese spot in the race and in the MGC rankings. After having run the Tokyo World Championships marathon last fall this will be his second-straight marathon national team in a major international championships. Yamashita ran 2:06:18 at February's Osak...

Chien Breaks TPE NR, Iwata Betters ID-Class WR - Weekend Track Roundup

The last weekend of the academic and fiscal year saw at least 5 meets with good results domestically and abroad. Kicking things off Friday was the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne, where Tomohiro Shinno and Naoto Hasegawa took 1st and 3rd in the men's high jump, both of them only clearing 2.18 m along with 2nd-placer Roman Anastasios . 12 other Japanese athletes were in action on the second day of the meet on Saturday, where 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura ran 3:42.84 for 6th in the men's 1500 m. Nagiya Mori had a better one in the men's 3000 m with a 7:45.40 for 4th. Both Yota Mashiko and Rui Suzuki cleared 8:00 too, Mashiko's 7:53.84 the 2nd-fastest ever by a Japanese-born high schooler. Abigail Fuka Ido and Nagisa Takahashi both placed 3rd in their events, Ido going 23.85 (-0.9) in the women's 200 m and Takahashi clearing 1.82 m in the women's high jump. 8 Japanese men were at The TEN in California to run 10000 m. In the B-heat won by Edward Marks in ...