Yuko Arimori on Anniversary of First Japanese Women's Olympic Medal and Death of Its Winner Kinue Hitomi: "Never Forget Her"

An event looking back at the life of Japan's first female Olympian and first female Olympic medalist Kinue Hitomi, winner of the silver medal in the 800 m at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, took place at Tokyo's Mainichi Hall on Aug. 2. Two-time Olympic marathon medalist Yuko Arimori and judo Olympic medalist Kaori Yamaguchi discussed the achievements of the pioneer of women's sports and the hardships she faced.

Aug. 2 is the anniversary of the day Hitomi won her medal in Amsterdam. It is also the anniversary of her death three years later at just 24 years old. Like Hitomi a native of Okayama prefecture, Arimori also won her first marathon medal, a silver at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, on Aug. 2, the first Japanese woman in the 64 years since Hitomi to medal in track and field at the Olympics. "It was thanks to Hitomi having led the way that I had the courage to do what I did at the Olympics and later as a pro," Arimori reflected. "Everyone involved in sports must never forget her."

Translator's note: Having set multiple national and world records in sprints and field events, Hitomi choked and didn't make it out of the 100 m semifinals in Amsterdam. Distraught, she asked to be put in the 800 m, a distance she had never run. As shown in the video above, after finishing 2nd in the semifinal she started the final with a crouching start and immediately took the lead. Other members of the Japanese team told her to slow down, which she did, before coming back in the last 200 m to take silver behind Germany's Lina Radke, both of them breaking the world record. The depiction of the race in NHK's ongoing Idaten drama about the history of Japan and the Olympics, mixing real and recreated footage, has been the highlight of the series so far by a long shot. The highlights clip below cuts out the historical footage but you get the feeling. Aug. 2 will also be the date of the women's marathon at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, surely not a coincidence.

source article:
https://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2019/08/03/kiji/20190802s00056000365000c.html
translated by Brett Larner

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...

Nat'l University Ekiden Updates Here

Looks like I just went over my update limit on Twitter - sorry, it's the first time I've tried to use it for this. I'll look for another option next time. In the meantime I'll add updates to the comments below. Not sure if that has a max too but I guess we'll find out. Update: Part one of the Nationals commentary can be found here .

How it Happened

Ancient History I went to Wesleyan University, where the legend of four-time Boston Marathon champ and Wes alum Bill Rodgers hung heavy over the cross-country team. Inspired by Koichi Morishita and Young-Cho Hwang’s duel at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics I ran my first marathon in 1993, qualifying for Boston ’94 where Bill was kind enough to sign a star-struck 20-year-old me’s bib number at the expo. Three years later I moved to Japan for grad school, and through a long string of coincidences I came across a teenaged kid named Yuki Kawauchi down at my neighborhood track. I never imagined he’d become what he is, but right from the start there was just something different about him. After his 2:08:37 breakthrough at the 2011 Tokyo Marathon he called me up and asked me to help him get into races abroad. He’d finished 3rd on the brutal downhill Sixth Stage at the Hakone Ekiden, and given how he’d run the hills in the last 6 km at Tokyo ’11 I thought he’d do well at Boston or New York. “I...

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