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‘07 World Champs Wariner, Clement and Thomas Win Again in Osaka'

http://www.iaaf.org/GP09/news/kind=100/newsid=50494.html

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One point not mentioned in the IAAF article is the strong showing by Japan's men's 4 x 100 m team. Running with only two members of its bronze medal-winning team from the Beijing Olympics, Naoki Tsukahara (Team Fujitsu) and Shinji Takahira (Team Fujitsu), the team won in 38.33, 0.3 seconds off the national record and a time which would have been 5th in the final in Beijing. The team's now-retired anchor from Beijing, Nobuharu Asahara, was one of the television announcers for the Osaka Grand Prix and was surprised and delighted at such an early-season showing. He said that with several months of work ahead on ironing out its exchanges he is confident the team will be a factor in Berlin.

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