Skip to main content

Noguchi's Withdrawal Puts Major Pressure on Tosa and Nakamura

http://beijing.yahoo.co.jp/news/detail/20080812-00000264-jij-spo#0

translated by Brett Larner

A major shock hit the Japanese running world on Aug. 12 when Beijing Olympics women`s marathon gold medal favorite Mizuki Noguchi (Team Sysmex) unexpectedly withdrew from the competition after suffering an injury to her left thigh, ending the Athens Olympics gold medalist's quest to become the first woman to defend her title in the marathon.

Today, the JOC received Noguchi's official withdrawal from Rikuren official Tadasu Kono. JOC athlete director Tomiaki Fukuda commented, "She was expected to win the gold medal, so it is very disappointing." It is now up to the remaining two athletes to extend Japan's run of women's marathon gold medals to three.

The other two Japanese runners on the women's marathon team are Reiko Tosa (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) who is appearing in her second straight Olympics, and first-time Olympian Yurika Nakamura (Team Tenmaya). Marathoning is an individual event, but with the level of Japanese women's marathoning being among the highest in the world, the synergetic effect of a strong core runner cannot be ignored. Japanese women have won medals in every Olympic marathon since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. At the 2004 Athens Olympics all three Japanese runners finished in the top seven.

With Noguchi's withdrawal, it is up to the courage of Athens 5th place finisher Tosa. The women's marathon begins at 7:30 a.m. on Aug. 17. With such a profound change of circumstances only five days before the main event, Tosa and Nakamura must now deal with a whole new level of pressure.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...
Post a Comment
Read more

World Marathon Majors Japanese Entries

We're back from a short summer break. A week and a half out from the first race of the season's four World Marathon Majors races, here's a look at Japanese athletes scheduled to run. Everything right now is about qualifying for the MGC Race, the official trials race for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics to be held in the fall of 2027 in Nagoya. The JAAF makes no mistake about wanting to keep its top people racing domestically where it can get a share of revenue from the TV broadcast and race operations, so anyone who decides to race overseas has to do it in a WA platinum label race and hit either 2:06:30 or 2:23:30, regardless of place, course or weather if they want to make the trials. At the same time concessions are make for domestic races, like for example the late-August Hokkaido Marathon where up to 3 men and 3 women can qualify if they go 2:12:00 or 2:32:00. As a result, you get things like last year where amateur runner Yudai Fukuda made the trials by finishing 3rd Jap...
1 comment
Read more

Nakajima Breaks 100 mH NR Twice, Kitaguchi Returns - August Track Roundup

Catching up on what's been happening in track and field this month during our summer break: Men's 3000 m NR holder Nagiya Mori was just off his 5000 m PB at the IFAM Oordegem meet in Belgium on Aug. 1, taking 16th in 13:15.01. Shota Nakano was 26th of 28 in 13:35.02. This year's national champion Ryoma Aoki ran the 3000 mSC but didn't finish. Naoto Hasegawa was the only Japanese athlete at Mutaz Essa Barshim 's What Gravity Tour stop at the Monaco Athletics Festival meet on Aug. 5. Having cleared 2.30 m for the first time earlier this year Hasegawa only managed 2.18 m in Monaco, taking 7th of 10. There were a lot of good performances at the Fuji Hokuriku World Trial meet in Fujiyoshida on Aug. 9, but the one that got the headlines was a 12.62 (-0.2) NR in the women's 100 mH by Hitomi Nakajima . Nakajima actually did it twice, running 12.62 (+2.0) in the heats before repeating in the final. Masumi Aoki also ran big in the heats, with a 12.68 (+2.0) for al...
1 comment
Read more