Skip to main content

Her Chances for the Olympics Hopeless, Yurika Nakamura Withdraws from Nagoya

http://www.kobe-np.co.jp/news/sports/0004831749.shtml

translated by Brett Larner

On Feb. 21 Beijing Olympic marathoner Yurika Nakamura (Team Tenmaya) announced that she has withdrawn from her planned run at the Mar. 11 Nagoya Women's Marathon because she has not been able to get into good enough shape.  The final selection race for the London Olympics marathon team, her withdrawal means that Nakamura has given up on trying to repeat as an Olympic marathoner.

Nakamura won her debut marathon at the 2008 Nagoya International Women's Marathon and finished 13th at the Beijing Olympics later that year.  However, running for the Okayama Prefecture team at January's National Women's Ekiden she finished only 42nd on the First Stage.  According to Tenmaya head coach Yutaka Taketomi, during her training in late January Nakamura was not getting back into shape.  "Even if she started, she is in no shape to run," he said in explaining the decision to pull her from Nagoya.  "London has been her goal ever since Beijing, so it's very unfortunate.  I decided to take her out in order to work on turning her back around."  Tenmaya's Risa Shigetomo is a favorite to make the London team after winning the Jan. 29 Osaka International Women's Marathon.

Translator's note: Nakamura was the only Japanese woman to finish the Beijing Olympic marathon.  Since her promising debut in 2008 every marathon she has run has been a PW.
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
Brett - While technically true that each marathon Yurika has run since her debut has been slower than the preceding marathon and therefore a "PW,", I think the term suggests a series of unmitigated disasters. While her 2:30:19 in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2:30:41 for 7th at Boston the following year were disappointments, I'd say last year's 2:41 in London would be the only one of her four career marathons that could be viewed as an out-and-out disaster.

Nagoya should be a dynamite race...last train to London, and likely a sayonara run for several women in the field!

Brendan Reilly
February 24, 2012 at 8:20 AM
Brett Larner said…
Thanks for the comment, Brendan. If you have any comments on what happened with her current situation it would be much appreciated. It's a shame that she won't be a part of what looks like a great race.
February 24, 2012 at 8:44 AM
geo s said…
Brendan, will be there??
February 27, 2012 at 12:26 AM
Post a Comment

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...
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

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...
Post a Comment
Read more