Skip to main content

Noguchi Officially Withdraws From Beijing Olympics

http://sports.nikkei.co.jp/index.aspx?n=AS1H1205J%2012082008
http://www.iza.ne.jp/news/newsarticle/sports/other/169194/
http://www.iza.ne.jp/news/newsarticle/sports/other/169193/
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20080812-00000076-mai-spo

translated and edited by Brett Larner

On the evening of Aug. 12, the JOC announced that Athens Olympics women`s marathon gold medalist Mizuki Noguchi (30, Team Sysmex), who at this Sunday's Beijing Olympic marathon planned to attempt to become the first woman to defend an Olympic marathon title, has officially withdrawn from the race due to an injury to her left thigh. Representatives of Noguchi's team informed Rikuren of their decision earlier in the day on the 12th.

Noguchi issued the following statement: "I've tried everything I can to recover, but when I run I'm still in a lot of pain and I can't take my training to the next level. Everything I've done in the last four years has been for Beijing so my desire to run has never disappeared, but considering my current situation I have to give it up. Because of my withdrawal there's going to be much heavier expectation of Tosa and Nakamura so I worry that the pressure on them is going to be even stronger, but I sincerely hope they do well in Beijing."

JOC vice president and secretary general Kenichi Chizuka commented, "It's a shock. If I can speak bluntly, the coach is more to blame here than the athlete. Rikuren informed us of this decision and the JOC has no choice but to respect it, but it is utterly disappointing. Let's all get behind Tosa now."

Reached for comment, Noguchi's father Minoru (56) said that he had learned of Noguchi's withdrawal through a telephone call from a friend who had seen the news on TV. "She's the one who's suffering the most," he said with profound sadness. "I don't know what I could say to her." During Noguchi's training he never had contact with her because of her intense focus. "She's the kind of person who would run until her legs break for all those who support her, so her injury must be really serious. This was the coaches' decision about what's best for her future, so there's nothing we as amateurs can say about it."

The JOC also reported that women's marathon team alternate Tomo Morimoto (Team Tenmaya) is likewise injured and will not be able to run. As a result, only Reiko Tosa (32, Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) and Yurika Nakamura (22, Team Tenmaya) will represent Japan in the women's marathon.

Comments

Anonymous said…
ES UNA HORRIBLE NOTICIA
CON NOGUCHI FUERA , LAS PREDICCIONES SE ABREN , TOSA Y NAKAMURA ESTAN BAJO UNA GRAN PRESION , SOBRETODO TOSA QUE ES LA MAS EXPERIMENTADA PERO ELLA CORRIO BIEN EN EL CALOR DE OSAKA 2007 , ASI QUE TENGO FE EN ELLA, PIENSO QUE ZHOU, RADCLIFFE Y NDEREBA TAMBIEN ESTARAN EN LA LUCHA DE LAS MEDALLAS , TAMBIEN DEENA KASTOR, CREO QUE LO DE LA LESION DE RADCLIFFE ES MENTIRA Y QUE ELLA ESTA EN MUY BUENA FORMA.-
MARCOSHASHI CHILE

Most-Read This Week

'Kobe 2024: Monday Sees Shocking Wins on the Track and the Field'

  https://www.paralympic.org/news/kobe-2024-para-athletics-world-championships-monday-sees-shocking-wins-track-and-field Complete results and daily schedule from the Kobe World Para Athletics Championships  are here .

Summary of Japanese Medalists at Asian Athletics Championships

Overall:    gold: 4   silver: 6   bronze: 10 Men:    gold: 1   silver: 3   bronze: 4 Women:    gold: 3   silver: 3   bronze: 6 20th Asian Athletics Championships Pune, India, July 3-7, 2013 click here for complete results Men's 200 m Final   +0.7 m/s 1. Xie Zhenye (China) - 20.87 2. Fahad Mohammed Alsubaie (Saudi Arabia) - 20.912 3. Kei Takase (Japan) - 20.918 Men's 400 m Final 1. Yousef Ahmed Masrahi (Saudi Arabia) - 45.08 2. Ali Khamis (Bahrain) - 45.65 3. Yuzo Kanemaru (Japan) - 45.95 Men's 110 m Hurdles Final   +0.1 m/s 1. Jiang Fan (China) - 13.61 2. Abdulaziz Almandeel (Kuwait) - 13.78 3. Wataru Yazawa (Japan) - 13.88 Men's 400 m Hurdles Final 1. Yasuhiro Fueki (Japan) - 49.86 2. Cheng Wen (China) - 50.07 3. Satinder Singh (India) - 50.35 Men's 3000 m SC 1. Tarek Mubarak Taher (Bahrain) - 8:34.77 2. Dejene Regassa Mootoma (Bahrain) - 8:37.40 3. Tsuyoshi Takeda (Japan) - 8...

Fast High School 5000 m Times at Nittai and Kyoto

After the great men's 10000 m and women's 5000 m results on day 1 of the last full Nittai University Time Trials meet of 2025, day 2 brought a lot of great 5000 m times from high schoolers, both at Nittai and at another meet in Kyoto. At Nittai, Bilith Boi (Sapporo Yamanote H.S.) downed 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura (Subaru) in the last of the 35 heats of 5000 m, running 13:27.52 to Miura's 13:28.61. Ryo Goda (Yasukawa Denki) also got under 13:30, running 13:29.41 for 3rd, with 40-year-old Yuichiro Ueno (Hiramatsu Byoin) rocking on with a 13:32.12 for 4th. James Karuri (Aomori Yamada H.S.) was 8th in 13:35.46, with 17-year-old Naoya Doma (Sera H.S.) running an excellent 13:39.13 for 10th. Samuel Gayu and Yua Hayashi also got under 14 minutes in the same heat to make it 3 sub-14 for Sapporo Yamanote H.S. In Heat 34, Chien Tzu-Chieh (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) ran a Taiwanese NR 13:48.99 for 4th, with Yui Kudo and Yugo Yamamoto running sub-14 to bring the Aomori Yamada...