Former 10000 m National Record Holder and Olympic Marathoner Izumi Maki Dies of Breast Cancer at Age 49

On Oct. 24 it was learned that 1996 Atlanta Olympics marathoner and former 10000 m Japanese national record holder Izumi Maki died of breast cancer Oct. 18 at her home in Mino, Osaka. She was 49 years old.

Her coach during her days at the Globally and Wacoal corporate teams, Nobuyuki Fujita, 78, said that he last saw Maki in July at a reunion event for Wacoal alumni. "She didn't seem well at the time," he recalled. "I had heard that she was anti-cancer drug treatment, but it is still a shock."

Hisakazu Hirose, 53, assistant coach to Maki in those days and currently head coach of the Iwatani Sangyo team, visited to mourn her death on the day she passed away. Hirose last saw her in March, but at that time, he said, "She seemed totally normal. She wasn't the sort of person who would have just given up. When I saw her after she passed away it looked as though she was only sleeping, that if you called out to her she would answer. I couldn't believe it was true."

Maki married in 2003 and is survived by her husband Shigeyuki Yamaoka, 52, a director for Kansai TV, and their son. Yamaoka told reporters, "I planned to only have family at her funeral, but 60 or 70 people came to pay their respects. She was widely loved in our town and area."

Maki had been receiving outpatient treatment for her cancer, but since the beginning of the year her condition had declined. She was hospitalized on Oct. 7 for examination, but, telling the doctors, "I love my home," she was discharged on Oct. 13 to return to be with her family. On Oct. 14 she had dinner surrounded by her loved ones, but four days later left them for the final time.

"She truly loved her home and family," Yamaoka said. Maki had told him from early on, "When I go I want to leave from home." Respecting her wishes, Yamaoka decided to have the funeral and wake and their home, but because it was not big enough to receive large numbers of people made it a family-only service.

After retiring from her career as an athlete Maki was very active with her local schools and in the local community, serving as a PTA officer at her son's kindergarten and elementary school. The last time she was invited to a race as a guest runner was at the local Mino Marathon three years ago, but she remained active in the sport by teaching running and training clinics until last year.

Maki's local friends and the parents of her son's classmates knew her in a different way from the general public, saying, "She didn't seem like she had been an Olympian." One friend commented, "She never said a single word about that kind of thing." Yamaoka as well said, "There are probably people around here who didn't even know my wife had been an Olympian."

source articles:
https://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/201810240000784.html
https://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/201810240000651.html
translated and edited by Brett Larner

Arao Becomes 1st Man in 40 Years to Score Back-to-Back Ome Road Race Wins

30 km is an under-appreciated distance, and both of Japan's big races at that distance happened Sunday. At the Ome Road Race in western Tokyo's mountains, Sydney Marathon 6th-placer Masato Arao (ND Software) became the first man since the great Kunimitsu Ito in 1985-1986 to win back-to-back years. Arao, who finished 39th of 40 on his leg at the New Year Ekiden last month, stayed in the pack through 20 km before going on the attack, putting over a minute on New Year Ekiden Sixth Stage CR breaker Yudai Shimazu (GMO). Sub-1:31 winning times are rare on the tough and hilly Ome course, but Arao's 1:30:54 almost equaled his 1:30:50 from last year, making him the first Japanese man ever to do it twice and second only to CR holder Ezekiel Cheboitibin . Next up Arao races the Tokyo Marathon, where he is targeting sub-2:06. Shimazu was 2nd in 1:31:58 and Yuta Nakayama (JR Higashi Nihon) 3rd in 1:32:07. Cheboitibin was only 9th, running almost 8 minutes off his CR in 1:36:42. Shi...

Osaka Marathon Preview

The Osaka Marathon is Sunday, one of Japan's biggest mass-participation races and the next stop on the calendar for its elite marathoners hoping to qualify for the L.A. Olympics marathon trials in the fall of 2027. Last year it snowed mid-race, but this year is looking warmer than ideal given the season, with sunny skies, almost no wind, and temps forecast to be 11˚ at the start and rising to 19˚ by the time the winners are finishing. NHK is broadcasting Osaka with a heavy emphasis on the men's race, and if you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it from overseas. There's also official streaming on Youtube starting at 8:30 a.m. local time, although it doesn't look like it's the same as what NHK will be showing. Given Osaka's history at the elite level as the continuation of the men-only Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, the women's field is small relative to the men's, just enough to tick World Athletics' label requirements and with almost no do...

Nagoya Women's Marathon Elite Field

Last year's top 3 Sheila Chepkirui , Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba are back for this year's Nagoya Women's Marathon on Mar. 8, but things are being set up more for it to be a race between Chepkirui, 2:17:49 in Berlin 2023, Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda , 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024. Aynalem has the freshest sub-2:20 of the 3, with neither Chepkirui nor Maeda having done it in 2 years. Maeda's only recent result is a 1:10:07 from Houston last month, but when she ran her NR she didn't have any kind of tuneup race to indicate her fitness so it's probably best not to read too much into that. If it goes out as a 2:18 race those are the only 3 who can probably hang with it. If it turns out to be more of a 2:20 race like when Chepkirui won in 2:20:40 last year then there's a group of 7 at the 2:20-2:22 level who will be in the picture, including Chumba, Selly Chep...

japan running news

Search This Blog