Skip to main content

Olympic Steeplechase 7th-Placer Miura on Tokyo 2020 and Izumo


At the Tokyo Olympics, Ryuji Miura from Hamada, Shimane became the first Japanese man ever to place in the top 8 in an Olympic 3000 m steeplechase final, finishing 7th overall. In his first independent interview since the Olympics, Miura talked about his feelings toward his community and of his future ambitions. Hometown fans may be able to look forward to seeing him race in Shimane again very soon.

"I was really nervous in the qualifying heat," says Miura of his opening round race where he ran a national record 8:09.92. "In the final it was more like, 'Let's get it done,' and I was half psyched up and half stressed out. I think the whole atmosphere of it being the Olympics and me having a blast being there helped make this result happen." 

Still just 19 and a 2nd-year at Juntendo University, Tokyo was Miura's Olympic debut. What was really noticeable about him before and after the race was how calm and cool he stayed during and after the race, looking totally at home among the big boys of the sport. What's Miura's reality? He expresses it this way. "I'm not like that normally," he says. "I 'm sloppy about some things, and there some things I lack. I always forget to bring things to races. I'm always causing trouble for the team manager." 

Back home in Hamada the locals were cheering for his Olympic debut with everything they had. Due to the pandemic Miura hasn't been able to go home to see people afterward, but he knows exactly where he wants to go once he gets the chance. "The first two places I'm going when I get back to Shimane are to my parents' house and to my old track club," he says. "That's where it all started, where I learned that I really like track. It's where coach Sadao Kamigasako first gave me the chance to run the 3000 m steeplechase."

Coach Kamigasako had cried as he watched his former pupil's Olympic success, and he's at the top of Miura's list of people to visit. But there's one more place he'd like to go. "I used to go the seaside park a lot when I was little," he says. "The sunset there is really beautiful. If it's still summer I want to go for a swim there."

Juntendo's ekiden team started fall training on Aug. 18. Looking ahead to this season's Big Three University Ekidens, Miiura is motivated for October's season-opening Izumo Ekiden in Shimane. "I'd be incredibly happy to run on the streets of Izumo," he says. "I don't know what the situation is going to be at that point, but I don't get many chances to be there so if the circumstances make it possible to have the opportunity to run there I totally want to do it." 

With three years more experience ahead of him on the track and roads before the Paris Olympics Miura is aiming even higher. "A lot of people have supported me, and I've really picked up on their energy," he says. "If would be great if I could give some of that back to the people of Shimane through my running."

source article:
translated and edited by Brett Larner

Buy Me A Coffee

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Japan's Olympic Marathon Team Meets the Press

With renewed confidence, Japan's Olympic marathon team will face the total 438 m elevation difference hills of Paris this summer. The members of the women's and men's marathon teams for August's Paris Olympics appeared at a press conference in Tokyo on Mar. 25 in conjunction with the Japan Marathon Championship Series III (JMC) awards gala. Women's Olympic trials winner Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) said she was riding a wave of motivation in the wake of the new women's national record. When she watched Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) set the record at January's Osaka International Women's Marathon on TV, Suzuki said she was, "absolutely stunned." Her coach Sachiko Yamashita told her afterward, "When someone breaks the NR, things change," and Suzuki found herself saying, "I want to take my shot." After training for a great run in Paris, she said, "I definitely want to break the NR in one of my marathons after that." Mao

Weekend Racing Roundup

  China saw a new men's national record of 2:06:57 from  Jie He  at the Wuxi Marathon Sunday, but in Japan it was a relatively quiet weekend with mostly cold and rainy amateur-level marathons across the country. At the Tokushima Marathon , club runner Yuhi Yamashita  won the men's race by almost 4 1/2 minutes in 2:17:02, the fastest Japanese men's time of the weekend, but oddly took 22 seconds to get across the starting line. The women's race saw a close finish between the top two, with Shiho Iwane  winning in 2:49:33 over Ayaka Furukawa , 2nd in 2:49:46.  At the 41st edition of the Sakura Marathon in Chiba, Yukie Matsumura  (Comodi Iida) ran the fastest Japanese women's time of the weekend, 2:42:45, to take the win. Club runner Yuki Kuroda  won the men's race in 2:20:08.  Chika Yokota  won the Saga Sakura Marathon women's race in 2:49:33.  Yuki Yamada  won the men's race in 2:21:47 after taking the lead in the final 2 km.  Naoki Inoue  won the 16th r

Sprinter Shoji Tomihisa Retires From Athletics at 105

A retirement ceremony for local masters track and field legend Shoji Tomihisa , 105, was held May 13 at his usual training ground at Miyoshi Sports Park Field in Miyoshi, Hiroshima. Tomihisa began competing in athletics at age 97, setting a Japanese national record 16.98 for 60 m in the men's 100~104 age group at the 2017 Chugoku Masters Track and Field meet. Last year Tomihisa was the oldest person in Hiroshima selected to run as a torchbearer in the Tokyo Olympics torch relay. Due to the coronavirus pandemic the relay on public roads was canceled, and while he did take part in related ceremonies his run was ultimately canceled. Tomihisa recently took up the shot put, but in light of his fading physical strength he made the decision to retire from competition. Around 30 members of the Shoji Tomihisa Booster Club attended the retirement ceremony. After receiving a bouquet of flowers from them Tomihisa in turn gave them a colored paper placard on which he had written the characters