Skip to main content

Federation Executives Express Disappointment at Weak Japanese Showing in Fukuoka

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20141207-00000527-sanspo-spo

translated and edited by Brett Larner
photos by Dr. Helmut Winter

Former world record holder Patrick Makau (Kenya) ran 2:08:22 to win the Dec. 7 Fukuoka International Marathon, the first domestic selection race for the Japanese team for next August's Beijing World Championships.  Japanese Federation executives who set the Beijing qualification standard at sub-2:06:30, a time only one Japanese man has ever run, were quick to express their disappointment at the 2:09:06 4th-place finish by 33-year-old Masakazu Fujiwara (Team Honda) being the top Japanese placing.

Executive Director Mitsugi Ogata, 55, expressed concern about the lead-up to the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in two years and beyond to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, saying, "We must cultivate true star athletes.  We've still got a harsh road ahead of us."  Ogata praised 3rd place finisher Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (Mongolia/Team NTN), 4th at October's Asian Games marathon, for mixing it up with the Africans.  "He just kept attacking.  I'd like to see aggressive athletes like that appear here too."

Development Committee Director Katsumi Sakai, 54, seethed with chagrin as he commented, "If they don't change their way of thinking they'll never be able to compete with the rest of the world.  I'm utterly disappointed."  The poor showing by Kentaro Nakamoto (32, Team Yasukawa Denki) was another blow to the National Team program Sakai helped establish in April.

Men's Marathoning Director Takeshi Soh, 61, expressed a sense of crisis that the next generation did not rise to the challenge as he said, "I think today was a shame.  I expected to see our young athletes make a breakthrough."  He urged the country's best young athletes to make their marathon debuts early, saying, "If our current university runners move to the marathon when they're at their peak speed it will improve our overall level."

photos (c) 2014 Dr. Helmut Winter
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
IF the Japanese athletes keep doing the same training in the same locations, they will stay at the 2:08-2:09 level forever. You cannot expect to do the same training with the same training partners in the same training venues and expect to improve. Occaisionally they'll have an outlier like Takaoka, but if they want to compete against the top Kenyans and Ethiopians, then why don't they go there and live with them and train alongside them?
December 10, 2014 at 8:01 AM
Pichon said…
2H06'30 it is really unrealistic indeed only athletes of Ethiopia and Kenya realized superior performances this year.
Furthermore some of these performances are suspicious (see the last revelations concerning doping )
December 13, 2014 at 8:43 AM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

M.I.A.

Sorry to have been silent for a while. JRN associate editor Mika Tokairin  was in Taiwan for Ironman Penghu, where she won her age group to qualify for Kona for the first time. Right after that we moved for the first time in 14 years, and immediately after that I headed to the U.S. to help Keita Sato  get settled in his new training base in Flagstaff. We'll be resuming normal operations shortly with a big roundup of results over the last 2 weeks. Brett Larner
Post a Comment
Read more

Everything You Need to Know About the 2026 Hakone Ekiden

The Hakone Ekiden is the world's biggest road race, 2 days of road relay action with Japan's 20 best university teams racing 10 half marathon-scale legs from central Tokyo to the mountains east of Mount Fuji and back. The level just keeps going higher and higher , hitting the point this year where there are teams with 10-runner averages of 13:33.10 for 5000 m, 27:55.98 for 10000 m, and 1:01:20 for the half marathon. It's never been better, and with great weather in the forecast it's safe to say this could be one of the best races in Hakone's 102-year history, especially on Day One. If you've seen it then you know NTV's live broadcast is the best sports broadcast in the world, with the pre-race show kicking off at 7:00 a.m. Japan time on the 2nd and 3rd and the race starting at 8:00 a.m. sharp. If you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it on TVer starting at 7:50 a.m. on the 2nd , and again at 7:50 a.m. on the 3rd . There's even a 2-hour high...
3 comments
Read more