Marathoner Takenouchi Hoping for Tokyo 2020 Team

After finishing among the top three Japanese men at last month's Fukuoka International Marathon to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Trials race, NTT Nishi Nihon corporate men's team member Yoshiki Takenouchi, 25, appeared at an event at Kyotanabe city hall in Kyoto where the NTT team is based. "I want to do everything I can to make that Olympic dream come even just one step closer," he said with determination.

Takenouchi is originally from Osaka. After graduating from Kandai Daiichi H.S. he attended Nihon University before joining NTT Nishi Nihon in 2015. In Fukuoka he ran a dramatic 2:10:01 PB to finish 7th overall as the 3rd Japanese man, earning a place at the Marathon Grand Championship race to be held in or after September, 2019.

Takenouchi lives in a company dormitory in the Kyotanabe and often runs along Yamate Kansen Strett during morning practice. "There's a lot of greenery and the air is clear, so it feels good to run there, "he said with a smile. "It has a lot of hills too so it's one of my favorite places to run."

Looking back on Fukuoka he said, "I'm pretty close to 100% satisfied." Looking toward the Olympics he said, "I just want to avoid injury, improve my training step by step, and clear my immediate goals one by one." Takenouchi plans to run March's Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon.

source article: http://www.kyoto-np.co.jp/sports/article/20180106000077
translated by Brett Larner

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