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.
Labels:

Comments

Brett Larner said…
I don't even know what to say. I'm so sad for her.
January 25, 2012 at 4:52 PM
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!
January 25, 2012 at 5:53 PM
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.
January 25, 2012 at 9:29 PM
Brett Larner said…
Yes, it's really a shame. I'll include TV broadcast details in my preview once I finish re-writing it.
January 25, 2012 at 10:18 PM
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.
January 26, 2012 at 12:11 AM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Japan Post Holds Off Sekisui Kagaku to Win Queens Ekiden National Title

  Japan Post  was back on top at the Queens Ekiden corporate women's national championships Sunday in Sendai, holding off last year's winner Sekisui Kagaku  over the second half of a race that came as close as 1 second to take 1st with a final margin of victory of 27 seconds. Sekisui Kagaku was out fast with a win on the 7.0 km opening leg by Erika Tanoura  and a new CR for the 12:56 second leg by Yuma Yamamoto , 17 seconds better than her own CR from last year. Last year's 4th-placer Shiseido  briefly led on the 10.6 km third leg with an excellent 33:17 stage win from Rino Goshima , but behind her Japan Post's Ririka Hironaka  returned from her latest injury problems to pass Sekisui Kagaku's Sayaka Sato  and hand off 6 seconds ahead. New recruit Caroline Kariba  ran Shiseido down on the 3.6 km fourth leg and put Japan Post 22 seconds ahead of Sekisui Kagaku, but a duel of marathoners between JP's  Ayuko Suzuki  and Sekisui's Hitomi Niiy...
Post a Comment
Read more

2023 Champion Kamimura Gakuen Girls Ready for Sunday's National High School Ekiden

Ahead of the Dec. 22 National High School Ekiden in Kyoto, the 2023 national champion Kamimura Gakuen H.S. girls held an open practice session for the media. 2023 was Kamimura Gakuen's only 2nd national title ever. Can it make it two in a row? The Kamimura Gakuen girls won the Nov. 2 Kagoshima Prefecture High School Ekiden, its 9th-straight win and 31st victory overall in the prefectural qualifying race for Nationals. 3rd on her stage at Nationals last year as part of the winning team, Hina Ogura summed up this year's lineup. "There's no really dominant star runner this year, but each person is aware of their position on the team and working together to share in everyone playing leading roles." Sakine Noguchi ran the Second Stage at Nationals last year. "I think we've improved our stamina," she said, "so I hope that we can get the best possible results and all finish with a smile." Handling the First Stage last year, Rin Setoguchi said,...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ekiden Great Naoki Okamoto to Retire in January at Age 40

  The Chugoku Denryoku  men's corporate team has announced that team member Naoki Okamoto , 40, will retire in January. Born in May, 1984, Okamoto went to Tohaku J.H.S.  and Yura Ikuei H.S.  before enrolling at Meiji University . His 2nd year at Meiji he helped it make it through the Hakone Ekiden qualifying race for the first time in 14 years and ran Hakone at the end of that season in 2005. He went on to run it his 3rd and 4th years too, placing 6th on the First Stage and 9th on the highly competitive Second Stage. After graduating in 2007 he joined Chugoku Denryoku. He was a regular on its team at the New Year Ekiden, winning the Fifth Stage in 2010. But where he really made his name was the National Men's Ekiden, held every January in Hiroshima where Chugoku Denryoku is based. Running it 19 times, he passed a total of 134 competitors in his career there and came to be recognized as one of the event's icons. He also won its Seventh Stage in 2009. In the marathon, ...
Post a Comment
Read more