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."
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translated and edited by Brett Larner
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