Skip to main content

Noguchi Out of Osaka With Injury to Left Thigh (updated)

http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/news/120125/oth12012515000009-n1.htm
http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20120125-894574.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

The organizers of the 31st Osaka International Women's Marathon and the Sysmex Women's Distance Running Team announced on Jan. 25 that invited athlete Mizuki Noguchi, 33, has pulled out of this Sunday's London Olympics selection race edition of Osaka with inflammation in the back of her left thigh.

Noguchi has been training at 1600 m altitude in Boulder, Colorado since Dec. 24.  She returned to Japan on Jan. 19, saying, "I did almost 100% of what was on the training menu.  I'm ready to drop a big one."

Noguchi, the 2004 Athens Olympics marathon gold medalist, was forced to pull out of defending her title at the 2008 Beijing Olympics after an injury to her left hip joint.  Since then she has suffered serial injuries but has persevered in trying to return to competition through her intense mental toughness.  Her last marathon was the Nov., 2007 Tokyo International Women's Marathon, one of the selection races for the Beijing Olympics.  Her planned return to the distance in Osaka after four years and two months had attracted enormous attention.

Update (from Nikkan article 1 hr 41 min after Sankei article): According to a source involved in the situation, Noguchi intends to shift her plans to try to make the London team by running the final Olympic selection race, the Mar. 11 Nagoya Women's Marathon.

Comments

Brett Larner said…
I don't even know what to say. I'm so sad for her.
Samurai Running said…
Yeah it is tough! Damn hard to reach the line in without injury in this game! I was ready to give her a big shout out on Sunday when I saw her shouting "Let's go to London!"

Never know she may indeed pull out a great run in Nagoya! We all hope she does but yes the pressure is on but Olympic champions eat pressure for breakfast!
Marcos said…
Esto ya parece una verdadera maldición para Noguchi , esperaba ver el duelo con Fukushi este domingo en la madrugada , ahora Fukushi tiene muchas más opciones de calificar a London , Brett puede por favor dar el link y el canal de tv , para poder ver la transmisión en vivo desde fuera de Japan , MUCHAS GRACIAS.
Brett Larner said…
Yes, it's really a shame. I'll include TV broadcast details in my preview once I finish re-writing it.
yuza said…
I am starting to wonder if maybe it is more mental now with Noguchi than physical...I don't know I just hope she gets fit again and runs a fast marathon. It must be so frustrating for her.

I am genuinely quite shocked by this news.

I am not sure Noguchi pulling out is a good or a bad thing for Fukushi.

Most-Read This Week

19-Yr-Old Munakata Breaks Miura's U20 NR to Win Ageo City Half Marathon

The Ageo City Half Marathon is always big, the main race that the coaches of Hakone Ekiden-bound university men's teams use for firming up their entry rosters for the big show. That makes what's basically an idyllic small town race into one of the world's great road races, with depth unmatched anywhere. One of the top-tier people on the start list at 1:02:07, Kodai Miyaoka (Hosei Univ.) took the race out fast, but the entire pack was keying off the fastest man in the race, Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), 1:00:31. Yoshida reeled Miyaoka in before 5 km and kept things steady in the low-1:01 range, wearing down the lead group to around 10 including his CGU teammate Taisei Ichikawa , a quartet from Izumo and National University Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University , 2 runners from local Daito Bunka University , 2:07:54 marathoner Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda), and Australian Ed Goddard . Right after 15 km Komazawa went into action, Yudai Kiyama , Hibiki Murakami and Haru Tanin

Ageo City Half Marathon Preview and Streaming

This weekend's big race is the Ageo City Half Marathon , the next stop on the collegiate men's circuit. Most of the universities bound for the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden use Ageo to thin down the list of contenders for their final Hakone rosters, and with JRN's development program that sends the first two Japanese collegiate finishers in Ageo to the United Airlines NYC Half every year a lot of coaches put in some of their A-listers too. That gives Ageo legendary depth and fast front-end speed, with a 1:00:47 course record last year from Kenyan corporate leaguer Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) and the top 26 all clearing 63 minutes. Since a lot of programs just enter everybody on their rosters you never really know who on the entry list is actually going to show up, but if even a quarter of the people at the top end of this year's list run it'll be a great race, even if conditions are looking likely to be a bit warmer than ideal. Chuo Gakuin University 's Reishi Yoshi

10000 m NR Attempt In the Works Saturday at Hachioji Long Distance - Streaming and Preview

There are a bunch of other time trial meets this weekend and next, but Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance is the last big meet for Japanese men, 8 heats of Wavelight-paced 10000 m finely graded from target times of 28:50 down to 26:59 for the fastest heat. Heat 6 at 17:55 local time is effectively the B-race, with 35 Japan-based Kenyans targeting 27:10 at the front end, and in a lot of cases a spot on their teams at the New Year Ekiden national championship on Jan. 1. Corporate teams are only allowed to field one non-Japanese athlete in the New Year Ekiden, and only on its shortest stage, and getting to that has a big impact on African athletes' contracts and renewal prospects. Toyota Boshoku , Yasukawa Denki , Chugoku Denryoku , Aisan Kogyo , JR Higashi Nihon , Subaru and 2024 national champion Toyota are all fielding two Kenyans, and Aichi Seiko three. For people like Toyota's Felix Korir and Samuel Kibathi , getting as close to the 27:10 target time as they can and