japan running news

http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/20120920/ath12092020060002-n1.html

translated by Brett Larner

Speaking to members of the media on Sept. 20, Rikuren executive Susumu Takano evaluated the results of the Japanese Olympic team in athletics, where the team's record of one medal and two top eight performances fell short of the federation's goal of one medal and five top eight performances.  "It's a very disappointing result," he said.  "We beat ourselves."  Takano was positive about hammer thrower Koji Murofushi's bronze  medal but identified the female marathoners' inability to cope with pace changes and the disqualifications of the race walkers as challenges that must be dealt with in the future.

With regard to the men's and women's marathon teams' inability to score a medal, board member Toshihiko Seko spoke frankly, saying, "The volume of their training is insufficient.  Kenyan athletes are training more than the Japanese." …

http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/news/111004/oth11100418530007-n1.htm

translated by Brett Larner

After a long period of time away from the sport, 200 m national record and 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Shingo Suetsugu (Team Mizuno) ran his first race in three years when he ran a time trial in Kumamoto on Oct. 1.  The race marked the beginning of a serious effort to make a comeback to full racing capability ahead of next year's London Olympics.

The 31-year-old Suetsugu ran the 100 m at the Oct. 1 time trial, clocking 10.87 in the first heat racing against university students.  After winning the bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics as part of Japan's 4x100 m relay team he took an "indefinite leave of absence" from competition to deal with accumulated fatigue.  Since then he has been based in his native Kumamoto, and beginning in February he started rebuilding and training toward regaining his full strength.

Having heard directly from his former pupil, federation executive…

http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2011030500040
translated by Brett Larner
Rikuren, the Japanese athletics federation, announced on Mar. 4 that it will disband its Long Distance and Road Racing Special Committee at the end of this month. The committee was established following the 2008 Beijing Olympics and tasked with strengthening the state of Japanese marathoning, but with no improvement in results it has been deemed ineffective. From April, long distance and marathoning will be grouped together with the overall track and field strengthening program headed by Susumu Takano in the leadup to the London Olympics. The budget for marathoning and distance running will also be bundled together with the overall track and field budget, allowing greater flexibility in allocating resources.
The Long Distance and Road Racing Special Committee was headed by director Keisuke Sawaki, but apart from the silver medal won by Yoshimi Ozaki (Team Daiichi Seimei) in the women's marathon at the…

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/news/p-sp-tp0-20090806-527765.html

translated by Brett Larner

Members of the Japanese national team on Aug. 5 in Shibuya. Click photo for full-sized image.

Rikuren held a press conference and farewell party for the Japanese national track and field team at a hotel in Tokyo's Shibuya ward on Aug. 5. Serving as the national team head coach, Rikuren executive board member Susumu Takano reiterated the team's goal of at least one medal and six top-eight finishes, but added, "We also want at least 25% of our athletes to set season best marks." Men's pole vaulter Daichi Sawano (28, Chiba T&F Assoc.) and women's 400 m hurdler Satomi Kubokura (27, Team Niigata Albirex) were also introduced at the party as the team captains. With regard to men's hammer thrower Koji Murofushi (33, Team Mizuno), who has recovered from an injury but is behind schedule in his training, his father and coach Shigenobu commented, "We can't expe…

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/news/f-sp-tp0-20090423-486359.html
http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2009042300873

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Rikuren's Long Distance and Road Racing Special Committee held a meeting at the National Training Center in Tokyo's Kita Ward on Apr. 23. With regard to August's World Championships in Berlin, committee director Susumu Takano commented, "We're not in a position to discuss our goals in much detail quite yet, but I will say that we expect to improve on our overall performances from the last two years." Japan earned one medal in athletics at the 2007 World Championships, Reiko Tosa's bronze in the women's marathon, and two in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the men's 4 x 100 m relay team's bronze and Koji Murofushi's bronze in the men's hammer throw.

Takano went on to add that the committee anticipates two finishers within the top eight in the World Championships women's marathon and …

http://sports.nikkei.co.jp/flash.aspx?n=117381

translated by Brett Larner

Following a meeting of its executive board on Apr. 4, Rikuren has announced some changes to the board's membership. Director Keisuke Sawaki (65) will remain in his current position, while former national soccer director Takeo Hirata (49) will join the board as a special advisor. Both positions will last two years.

Former marathon aces Toshihiko Seko (52) and Yuko Arimori (42) have left the Rikuren board, while Osaka Gas vice-president Hiroshi Yokokawa (61) and Hiroshima Track and Field vice-director Katsuji Miyake (65) will join. Like Sawaki, special committee director Susumo Takano (47) and executive director Yohei Kono (72) will keep their current positions.

The board also selected Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture as the site for the 2011 National Track and Field Championships.

published in the Nikkei Newspaper, 11/20/08

translated by Mika Tokairin and Brett Larner

Rikuren [JAAF] announced today that it has created a new 'Long Distance and Road Racing Special Committee' to separate oversight of Japanese long distance and marathon runners from other track and field events in an effort to strengthen Japanese distance running. The new division is to be headed by Rikuren executive board member Keisuke Sawaki. The committee responsible for sprints and field events will be headed by current Rikuren track and field director Susumu Takano.

The final decision on creating the new division was made by Rikuren executive director Yohei Kono. "It was extremely embarrassing to see the result of the Beijing Olympic marathons," commented Kono. "Considering the size of our organization some might think setting up this new committee might be outrageous and too specific to one event, but our feeling is that this is necessary to deal with the current crisis.&…

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20080823-00000173-jij-spo

translated by Brett Larner

An injury is an accident and therefore something unavoidable. This is the viewpoint of Rikuren, the governing body of Japanese track and field. Everyone understands that Olympic marathon representatives need to push their bodies to the limit and drag themselves through incredible extremes of distance to be Olympic material, but at the same time it must be called abnormal when first women's marathoner Mizuki Noguchi (Team Sysmex) and then men's marathoner Satoshi Osaki (Team NTT Nishi Nihon) pull out of the Olympic marathon at the last moment.

These withdrawals and other problems illustrate the lack of crisis management ability in the current Japanese system. Rikuren did not get control of Noguchi's situation before her injury became a serious fact. Both the men's and women's team alternates were omitted from the final Olympic team roster, meaning that neither was elligible to fill t…

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/sp20080727ed.html