Skip to main content

Rio Olympians Takamizawa and Sekine Retire at Age 24

 
A 2016 Rio Olympian in the women's 3000 m steeplechase while still in university, Anju Takamizawa, 24, has announced her retirement through a statement issued by her corporate team Shiseido on Dec. 24. While at Matsuyama University Takamizawa won the steeplechase at the 2015 and 2016 National Championships. In Rio she was eliminated in the qualifying round. Since then Takamizawa has struggled with injury. On the Shiseido team site Takamizawa commented, "Thank you to everyone who kept supporting me even though I couldn't produce the results I wanted to. I hope that my experiences as an athlete will help inform my future life." 


A day later on the 25th, the Japan Post corporate team announced that Takamizawa's Rio Olympics teammate Hanami Sekine, 24, was also retiring. A native of Tokyo, Sekine ran for Toyokawa H.S. before joining the brand-new Japan Post team in 2014 as one of its star athletes. She ran the 10000 m in Rio, and in 2018 she made her debut at the Nagoya Women's Marathon in 2:23:07. An early adopter of super shoe technology, after Nagoya Sekine developed what ultimately proved career-ending injuries. 

"I can end my career feeling satisfied with what I accomplished," she commented. "I want to devote myself to the pursuit of a new dream now." She plans to leave Japan Post at the end of the fiscal year to become a childcare worker. Head coach Masahiko Takahashi praised Sekine, saying, "She helped create our team's legacy and is someone worthy of the utmost respect. I hope that she pursues the next stage of her life the same way."

source article:
translated and edited by Brett Larner

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Stefan said…
It is such a shame that Hanami Sekine has had to retire due to injury and at such a young age too! A number of times I saw her race and be second best to her JP teammate Suzuki Ayuko but her effort was always amazing. Her performance in the Nagoya Marathon in 2018 was one I will remember for a very long time. It was her marathon debut and she beat a lot of highly fancied rivals on that day with a superb run. Her effort was one to behold and when she qualified for the MGC race I had such high hopes for her. I wish her the best but am saddened that the sport of running has lost a potential great athlete due to injury. Such a shame.
December 28, 2020 at 2:39 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Measuring Marathon Courses by Bicycle

http://news.searchina.ne.jp/disp.cgi?y=2013&d=0110&f=column_0110_034.shtml translated by Brett Larner The full marathon is a sport where you compete over 42.195 km, but how do they go about measuring that distance?  Today we're going to look a little bit at how they go about certifying the distance of a marathon. The reality is that major international marathons use a bicycle to measure the distance.  This rule is an international standard, and the same method of measurement is used everywhere.  It was put into place in 1986.  In order to ensure that the same method is used everywhere, a bicycle that meets IAAF specifications must be used for measurement. In the case of Japan's major marathons, to be certain that the distance is correct a provisional measurement is first made.  Before the course is certified using a bicycle the course is measured using a 50 m-long length of wire to determine that it is in fact 42.195 km.  When a bicycle is u...
2 comments
Read more

Ai Hosoda Announces Retirement

photo © 2025 Victah Sailer/Photo Run, all rights reserved On Jan. 8 the Edion women's corporate team announced that Ai Hosoda , 30, will retire at the end of March this year. The Tokyo Marathon will be her last race. At Nagano Higashi H.S. Hosoda ran in the National High School Ekiden her 2nd and 3rd years. During her 3rd year at Nittai University she won both the 5000 m and 10000 m at the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships, going on to win the bronze medal in the 10000 m at the World University Games in her 4th year at Nittai. After graduating she joined the Daihatsu corporate team, debuting at the 2019 Nagoya Women's Marathon in 2:29:27. 2 years later she transferred to Edion. She qualified for the Paris Olympics marathon trials at the 2022 Nagoya Women's Marathon and finished 3rd in the trials in the fall of 2023, but was later bumped down to Olympic alternate after another athlete ran a faster time. Instead of the Olympics, Hosoda ran the 2024 Ber...
2 comments
Read more

Nat'l University Ekiden Updates Here

Looks like I just went over my update limit on Twitter - sorry, it's the first time I've tried to use it for this. I'll look for another option next time. In the meantime I'll add updates to the comments below. Not sure if that has a max too but I guess we'll find out. Update: Part one of the Nationals commentary can be found here .
77 comments
Read more