http://www.business-i.jp/news/sou-page/news/200808020012a.nwc
translated by Brett Larner and Mika Tokairin
Beijing Olympics Women's 10000 m Team Member Yoko Shibui
"I Genuinely Want to Win"
She's had many great records and many failures, but it's all in the past for Yoko Shibui. It's not that she won a spot on the Beijing Olympics women's 10000 m team but rather that she finally found the true athlete's state of mind. "I am hungry to win these days. This year especially I've found myself always thinking, 'I want to win, I want to win, I want to win!' People probably think I've always been a passionate person, but it's not true. I think that I probably didn't use to really have the drive to win, but now I do. This means that in Beijing I will be shooting to take down some big names."
Here in front of me is the newborn Shibui. What gets her going is not the existence of rivals or the reputations of others. It's beating herself, a new state of mind in which she has just arrived. "So...I'm really looking forward to the Beijing Olympics. If I have a 100% performance I'm sure something will come out of it."
What changed Shibui? "Well, that, yeah. The marathon I, you know, did. After that I started to think about my career and how much longer I can be a competitive athlete, and I began to understand some things about what's left for me. If I hadn't experienced that race I wouldn't be here. Everything started after Tokyo last November."
Shibui is no longer the wild and naive girl of old. Now she's got the heart of a mature woman athlete. In the past, she always failed in important competitions. In the Athens Olympics selection race, the 2004 Osaka International Women's Marathon, she was 9th, and in 2007 at the selection race for the Osaka World Track and Field Championships, also held at the Osaka International Women's Marathon, she was 10th. The bottom came at the 2007 Tokyo International Women's Marathon Shibui was supposed to run a much-anticipated duel against Mizuki Noguchi, but just before the 30 km she fell away from the lead pack and finished in 7th with a personal worst time, ending her hopes to run in the Beijing Olympics as a marathoner. "That loss changed everything."
In June she won the Japanese National Track and Field Championships 10000 m, sealing her ticket to Beijing. In Kunming, China, Shibui is now in the last phase of her training for the 10000 m. She will go to Beijing on the 13th. "For me, 10000 m is just a point along the way in training for the marathon, but I always feel like I want to become a runner who can be competitive at both."
Shibui's training has included running all-out on a 100 m downhill cross-country course to learn how to improve her leg turnover. I asked her to show me her secret weapon, her legs. "No, no, no, no! I don't have much confidence about my body. I have a huge body self-image complex," she laughed as she pulled her legs up against her body and hid them with her arms.
Over a hundred of Shibui`s relatives, friends and colleagues will be in Beijing to support her. Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo president Yoshiaki Hata commented, "I want to see Shibui finish shouting with enthusiasm." Shibui herself offered her vision of the Beijing 10000 m. "In the race I want the god of track and field to come to me." Under the Beijing sky, the newly grown-up Shibui is sure to get her medal.
translated by Brett Larner and Mika Tokairin
Beijing Olympics Women's 10000 m Team Member Yoko Shibui
"I Genuinely Want to Win"
She's had many great records and many failures, but it's all in the past for Yoko Shibui. It's not that she won a spot on the Beijing Olympics women's 10000 m team but rather that she finally found the true athlete's state of mind. "I am hungry to win these days. This year especially I've found myself always thinking, 'I want to win, I want to win, I want to win!' People probably think I've always been a passionate person, but it's not true. I think that I probably didn't use to really have the drive to win, but now I do. This means that in Beijing I will be shooting to take down some big names."
Here in front of me is the newborn Shibui. What gets her going is not the existence of rivals or the reputations of others. It's beating herself, a new state of mind in which she has just arrived. "So...I'm really looking forward to the Beijing Olympics. If I have a 100% performance I'm sure something will come out of it."
What changed Shibui? "Well, that, yeah. The marathon I, you know, did. After that I started to think about my career and how much longer I can be a competitive athlete, and I began to understand some things about what's left for me. If I hadn't experienced that race I wouldn't be here. Everything started after Tokyo last November."
Shibui is no longer the wild and naive girl of old. Now she's got the heart of a mature woman athlete. In the past, she always failed in important competitions. In the Athens Olympics selection race, the 2004 Osaka International Women's Marathon, she was 9th, and in 2007 at the selection race for the Osaka World Track and Field Championships, also held at the Osaka International Women's Marathon, she was 10th. The bottom came at the 2007 Tokyo International Women's Marathon Shibui was supposed to run a much-anticipated duel against Mizuki Noguchi, but just before the 30 km she fell away from the lead pack and finished in 7th with a personal worst time, ending her hopes to run in the Beijing Olympics as a marathoner. "That loss changed everything."
In June she won the Japanese National Track and Field Championships 10000 m, sealing her ticket to Beijing. In Kunming, China, Shibui is now in the last phase of her training for the 10000 m. She will go to Beijing on the 13th. "For me, 10000 m is just a point along the way in training for the marathon, but I always feel like I want to become a runner who can be competitive at both."
Shibui's training has included running all-out on a 100 m downhill cross-country course to learn how to improve her leg turnover. I asked her to show me her secret weapon, her legs. "No, no, no, no! I don't have much confidence about my body. I have a huge body self-image complex," she laughed as she pulled her legs up against her body and hid them with her arms.
Over a hundred of Shibui`s relatives, friends and colleagues will be in Beijing to support her. Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo president Yoshiaki Hata commented, "I want to see Shibui finish shouting with enthusiasm." Shibui herself offered her vision of the Beijing 10000 m. "In the race I want the god of track and field to come to me." Under the Beijing sky, the newly grown-up Shibui is sure to get her medal.
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