Atlanta Olympian Michiko Shimizu to Lead New Tokyo Metro Women's Ekiden Team in 2020

The Tokyo Metro Corporation is pleased to announce plans to found a new women's ekiden team beginning in April, 2020. Under the leadership of Michiko Shimizu the team will seek to become champions of the National Corporate Women's Ekiden.

As a long-distance relay the ekiden is in close conceptual affinity with the railway industry, which functions to connect separate stations. In addition, the fact that a team's success rests on the regular, daily work of each member and their individual contributions toward making a better whole is fully aligned with our corporate mission of each of our employees making valuable contributions through their daily work to the safety and comfort of our customers.

Tokyo Metro seeks to make a positive contribution to the community and to society at large through its women's ekiden team. The team will be based in Nakano, Tokyo. It is our hope that having a team based and training along our routes will help to unite and revitalize those areas. The team will also help to enhance the sense of unity within our company, strengthening our organization and leading to further improvement of our services. The launch of the team just before the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games will be just one aspect of the the Games' legacy.

Head coach Michiko Shimizu ran the 5000 m at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, where she outran future marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe (Great Britain) to finish 4th and become the first Japanese woman in 68 years to make the top eight in an Olympic track final. Since her retirement she has been active in training and educating collegiate and amateur runners. Under her leadership, in its first few years the team will aim to qualify for the National Corporate Women's Ekiden, then to win it. Team members will also be active in track and road races both domestically and abroad. The team will collaborate with the University of Tokyo Advanced Sports Science Research Center on sports science research in order to help maximize the team's training methods from a scientific standpoint.

source article:
https://www.tokyometro.jp/news/images_h/metroNews20190326_35.pdf
translated and edited by Brett Larner

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