Skip to main content

Noguchi Sees "Light at the End of This Long, Long Tunnel"

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2009/09/14/07.html
http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20090914-OHT1T00018.htm
http://www.47news.jp/CN/200909/CN2009091301000432.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Marathoner Mizuki Noguchi (31, Team Sysmex) made an appearance Sept. 13 in Nagano's Sugadaira Takahara region at a workshop organized by her coach, Nobuyuki Fujita. For the first time she spoke seriously of a comeback from the left leg injury which has plagued her ever since forcing her to withdraw from defending her Olympic gold medal at last year's Beijing Olympics, saying that her condition has improved to the point that she is now able to run 20 km. "I've been running again for a month now after taking four months completely off," she told audience members. "The pain is mostly gone. I feel like I can see the light at the end of this long, long tunnel growing brighter bit by bit."

Coach Fujita revealed that a medical examination in mid-July during her stay at the National Institute of Sport Science had indicated that all traces of inflammation in Noguchi's leg have disappeared. In terms of a comeback race Fujita said, "We're looking toward a half marathon in the spring." With an eye toward making the national team for the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, Korea, Noguchi would then plan toward running either the Yokohama International Women's Marathon in Nov., 2010 or the Osaka International Women's Marathon in Jan., 2011.

Taking motivation from the silver medal won by Yoshimi Ozaki (Team Daiichi Seimei) at August's World Championships women's marathon in Berlin, Noguchi said, "[Ozaki's performance] left a good mark on me. My main goal right now is to build a solid foundation for the London Olympics."

Comments

Most-Read This Week

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...

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...

Asian Games Competition Schedule

The daily athletics event schedule for September's Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games . Wednesday, Sept. 23 7:30 - Women's / Men's Half Marathon Race Walk Final Thursday, Sept. 24 10:00 - Women's Heptathlon 100 mH 10:20 - Mixed 4x400 m Relay Heats 10:30 - Men's Triple Jump Heats 10:40 - Women's Heptathlon High Jump 19:05 - Men's High Jump Heats 19:13 - Women's Heptathlon Shot Put 19:33 - Women's 100 m Heats 19:44 - Women's Triple Jump Final 20:08 - Men's 100 m Heats 20:55 - Men's Discus Throw Final 21:00 - Women's Heptathlon 200 m 21:25 - Women's 10000 m Final 22:15 - Mixed 4x400 m Relay Final Friday, Sept. 25 10:00 - Women's Heptathlon Long Jump 10:30 - Men's 400 m Heats 11:25 - Women's Heptathlon Javelin Throw 19:05 - Women's Shot Put Final 19:13 - Women's 100 m Semifinal 19:33 - Men's 100 m Semifinal 20:03 - Women's Pole Vault Final 20:11 - Women's Heptathlon 800 m 20:32 - Men's 10000 m Final 20:40 - M...