japan running news

In June Yuko Arimori , a native of Okayama, was named head of the JAAF . We talked to her about her vision as the new leader of the JAAF, her outlook for the future, and her plans for developing the next generation. "Through my work in athletics I want to help reiterate that sport is a necessity for both individuals and society, that it inspires people, brings them together, and helps them grow from the ground up," she says. Now 58, Arimori is not only the first woman to take the top position in the JAAF bureaucracy but also its first Olympian to do so. "Honestly, I never thought I'd be in a position to take on a role like this." Arimori won medals in the marathon at both the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and 1996 Atlanta Olympics. She hopes that her own experience at that level can help inform the next generation. "It's going to take a lot of hard work to help the next generation achieve the dreams and goals that we weren't able to," she says. ...

On June 25 the JAAF announced that director Mitsuki Ogata is stepping down and will be replaced by vice-chair Yuko Arimori . A two-time Olympic marathon medalist, Arimori will be both the first woman and first Olympian to lead the JAAF. Arimori was born in 1966 in Okayama. In 1985 she graduated from Shujitsu H.S. and entered Nittai University . After graduating in 1989 she joined the Recruit corporate team under the leadership of head coach Yoshio Koide . In January, 1990 she ran 2:32:51 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon, at the time a debut marathon national record. The next year she placed 4th at the Tokyo World Championships, then took the silver medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Four years later Arimori followed that up with a bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. She retired from competition in 2007. After retiring, Arimori became active in a wide range of area, including as chair of Special Olympics Japan, a sports organization for intellectually-challen...

  According to investigators, two-time Olympic marathon medalist Erick Wainaina has had his case referred to prosecutors after allegedly injuring a railway employee by striking him in the face at a station in Setagaya, Tokyo. Wainaina, 50, was the bronze medalist in the marathon at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and won silver in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Wainaina is suspected of assaulting a woman in her late teens and a male Tokyu Denentoshi Line employee by hitting them in the face during an altercation at Komazawa University Station in March this year, resulting in minor injuries to the man's face. According to investigators, the incident began on the train between Wainaina and the woman, and after getting off at Komazawa University Station he hit her in the face when she asked him to go to the station office with her to report it. When the male railway employee responded to the situation Wainaina reportedly hit him too. In response to questioning Wainaina is said to have answered,...

The Route Inn Hotels women's ekiden team has announced that 1996 Atlanta Olympian Masako Chiba has joined its coaching staff as of Apr. 1. Chiba graduated from Kyoto's Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. before joining the Asahi Kasei corporate team. At the Atlanta Olympics she was 5th in the 10000 m, following up a year later at the Athens World Championships with a bronze medal in the 10000 m. After changing focus to the marathon, she won the bronze medal at the 2003 Paris World Championships to become the first woman in history to medal on both the track and road. Since her retirement Chiba has been active as a race commentator and guest runner at races, as well as helping guide amateur running clubs. "I was an athlete for 15 years and a race commentator for 15 years, and now I've found a new dream to pursue! The opportunity to take on coaching is the culmination of a life in athletics, and it feels like an exciting adventure to be heading into my third career like this,...

Atlanta Olympics marathon bronze medalist and future Sydney silver medalist Erick Wainaina , future marathon national record holder Atsushi Fujita , and the first Kenyan to go all the way through the Japanese high school, university and corporate league system, Stephen Mayaka , head-to-head at the now-defunct Sapporo Half Marathon in 1998. Atlanta gold medalist Josiah Thugwane is running in 4th in most of this clip but ends up 5th.

Double women's marathon Olympic medalist and longtime executive member of a variety of sports organizations Yuko Arimori , 52, bas been tapped to become head of the Japanese National Para-Sports Association according to comments by an involved party on June 6. The nomination was set to be discussed by the association's executive board later the same day. Arimori's experience with handicapped sports includes chairing the Special Olympics Japan, an organization aimed at those with intellectual disabilities, since 2008. source article: https://this.kiji.is/509216344132371553?c=39546741839462401 translated by Brett Larner photo © 2017 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Yoshio Koide , coach of the first woman to ever break 2:20 in the marathon and Olympic marathon gold, silver and bronze medalists Naoko Takahashi and Yuko Arimori , passed away Apr. 24. He was 80 years old. Koide had just announced his retirement from coaching at the end of March. Koide became coach at Recruit through a teacher. Saying, "The age of our women is coming," he foresaw the rise of Japanese women's marathoning and actively made his dream of producing an Olympic gold medalist come true. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics where Takahashi won gold he produced a precise, aggressive winning strategy that seemed to go against character. According to the Sept. 25, 2000 issue of Daily Sports covering Takahashi's gold, Takahashi's move came at 35 km near the apartment she had been at near the 32 km point on a section of road she had been running every day. Meeting with Takahashi the day before the race Koide confirmed the plan for the attack, telling her, ...

Yoshio Koide , 79, coach of 2000 Sydney Olympics women's marathon gold medalist and former world record holder Naoko Takahashi , retired from his position as head of the Sakura AC at the end of March. Koide's coaching contract with the Universal Entertainment corporate team likewise ran out at the end of March, and he did not renew it. Koide commented, "On the 15th I turn 80. This is a good time to step down and let someone younger take over." In the summer of 2015 Koide underwent heart surgery while at a training camp in the United States, and since then he has been in and out of the hospital. His age was also simply starting to have an effect. "I love the race more than anything else," he said. "I'm sorry to leave, but taking care of my body is simply more important." Koide graduated from Juntendo University. As a high school coach he led the Funabashi Municipal H.S. team to the National High School Ekiden Championships title in 19...

At a press conference in Sayama, Saitama on Mar. 20, 2016 Rio Olympics marathoner Suehiro Ishikawa , 39, announced that he will retire from competition at the end of the month. At the time of the Rio Olympics Ishikawa was 36 years and 11 months old, surpassing 1996 Atlanta Olympics marathoner Hiromi Taniguchi 's record of 36 years and 3 months to become Japan's oldest-ever Olympic marathoner. He finished 36th. "Since I started running high school it's been 24 years," said Ishikawa at the press conference. "I've been with Honda for 17 years, and I made it all the way to the top, the Olympics. I'm glad that I've kept going this long. I thank you all." Ishikawa ran the Mar. 10 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon but dropped out after only 10 km. It was to be the last race of his career. "It was the first time in my career that I'd ever DNFd, and I thought, 'OK, this is where it ends,'" said Ishikawa. Shortly after the race h...

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 bel...

by Brett Larner Outside of the marathon, Japanese distance runners have rarely made an impact at the Olympics.  Post-war, in the 10000 m only three men and two women have ever made the top eight, and the men's 5000 m, the women's 5000 m and the men's 3000 m steeplechase have seen just one Japanese athlete each make the finals.  Of those, only Michiko Shimizu made a mark with a 4th-place in the women's 5000 m at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Below are the top ten post-war Japanese men's and women's performances at the Olympics for the 3000 mSC, 5000 m, 10000 m and marathon, ranked both by placing and by time.  Click any list to enlarge.  With a talented distance squad including men's 10000 m national record holder Kota Murayama (Team Asahi Kasei), men's 5000 m national record holder Suguru Osako (Nike Oregon Project), women's 3000 mSC junior and collegiate national record holder Anju Takamizawa (Matsuyama University) and more the lists should ne...

http://www.jomo-news.co.jp/ns/2014532978453725/news.html http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20160121-00000179-sph-spo translated and edited by Brett Larner After leading Jobu University to eight-straight Hakone Ekiden appearances, head coach Katsuhiko Hanada , 44, has announced that he will step down from his position and leave Jobu University at the end of March following the end of the academic year.  In an interview with the Jomo Newspaper coach Hanada said, "In the future I would like to continue to be involved with developing athletes," but he declined to discuss the reason for his resignation or his specific future plans. Jobu finished last at this year's Hakone Ekiden. During his time as an athlete at Waseda University Hanada set the stage record on the Hakone Ekiden's Fourth Stage, contributing to Waseda's overall win.  At the S&B corporate team he ran the 10000 m at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and 2000 Sydney Olympics.  After his retirement as ...

text and photos by Brett Larner A day after running in South Africa’s Sanlam Cape Town Marathon and 10 km road race , 1996 Atlanta Olympics marathon gold medalist Josiah Thugwane and Japan’s iconoclastic civil servant runner Yuki Kawauchi traveled to the Kayamandi township outside Stellenbosch to speak to local children taking part in the songo.info program.  A community with over 100 years of history, the 33,000 residents of Kayamandi live in extreme conditions of poverty in the hills overlooking the wealthy winery town of Stellenbosch.  Thugwane and Kawauchi were taken on a walking tour of the community to see with their own eyes the situation in which the songo.info program's children live and the challenges they face. Created in 2008 by Songo Fipaza , a Kayamandi resident who became a national-level cross-country runner through the support of 1992 Barcelona Olympics silver medalist Elana Meyer when as a youth he sought her out in Stellenbosch after watching ...

http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/20130117/ath13011720530000-n1.html translated by Brett Larner The Shiseido corporation has announced that women's long distance team head coach Tsutomu Hiroyama , 46, will retire from the team at the end of March.  The announcement comes partly as a consequence of the Shiseido team's 13th place finish at December's National Corporate Women's Ekiden, the latest in a series of increasingly shaky results in recent years.  Hiroyama's wife Harumi Hiroyama , 44, who beginning with the 1996 Atlanta Olympics made three straight Olympic teams in track distance events, has been serving as an assistant coach and according to the announcement will also retire from the team.  Following their departure current coaching staff member Toshitaka Andoji , 47, will be promoted. Tsutomu joined Shiseido in 1989, switching the focus of his own career as an athlete to coaching and helping to develop Harumi and others.  The couple's stoic characte...

http://mytown.asahi.com/iwate/news.php?k_id=03000001008260003 translated by Brett Larner One of the greats of Japanese distance running, 1996 Atlanta Olympian Masako Chiba (34), gave a talk before 74 5th graders at Hagiso Elementary School in Ichinoseki, Iwate on Aug. 25. Chiba appeared at the school as part of the "Classroom of Dreams Project" sponsored by the Japan Soccer Federation. As part of the opening session with students in the school's gymnasium, Chiba talked about the techniques behind running faster, the right way to train, speedwork, making use of her experience to set an example for the children. She showed students how changing your arm carriage affects your stride, a demonstration that had many students calling out, "Wow!" Changing venues to a classroom, Chiba talked about her 15 year-long career as one of the world's top distance runners. She told students about finishing 5th in the Atlanta Olympics 10000 m and showed them her two World...

http://mainichi.jp/enta/sports/general/track/news/20090317k0000m050018000c.html translated by Brett Larner Japanese men's 3000 m, 10000 m and marathon national record holder Toshinari Takaoka (38, Team Kanebo) held a press conference on Mar. 16 to announce that he will retire from professional running following the Mar. 22 Tokyo Marathon. On Apr. 1 he will join Team Kanebo's coaching staff. The impetus for Takaoka's retirement came on Feb. 4 when he seriously strained the muscle in his left calf while training in Yamaguchi Prefecture for the Tokyo Marathon. "I felt that I'm no longer able to do ideal training for a serious marathon," Takaoka told reporters at the press conference in explaining his decision to retire. "I understood that it would be better if I made this race my last. I made the choice myself and I can accept it." Takaoka is a native of Kyoto. He attended Rakunan High School and Ryukoku University before joining Team Kanebo in 1993. H...

http://runnet.jp/news/main.php?_num=165 translated by Brett Larner Two-time Olympic marathon medalist and longtime Japan resident Erick Wainaina of Kenya took part in a 3 km race last weekend where he fell six times and finished with a time of over 34 minutes, commenting afterwards, "It was my first experience and I had a lot of fun." Hearing just this you might think, "Whoa! What happened!?" The truth is that Wainaina wasn't running a road race but one on the snow at the 29th Sapporo International Ski Marathon, an event attracting elite and amateur athletes alike. Wainaina was an invited guest in Sapporo's 3 km division despite only ever having been on skis once. Asked for his impressions after finishing the race, Wainaina said, "If I run 3 km it takes me between 8 and 9 minutes, but today it took 34:34. The muscles you use are completely different from the ones used in running." Wainaina's best time for a marathon is 2:08:43, a pace of 3:03 p...

http://www.asahi.com/sports/spo/TKY200902040119.html translated and edited by Brett Larner The 29th Sapporo International Ski Marathon takes place Feb. 8 in Sapporo starting from nearby Sapporo Dome. The event includes five cross-country ski courses ranging from 3 km to 50 km, offering a wide variety of challenges to the 2700 entrants. For top athletes the race also serves as a qualification race for the World Loppet international championships. Among the entrants in the 3 km division is special guest and two-time Olympic marathon medalist Erick Wainaina (35). Wainaina came to Japan from his native Kenya in 1993. Wainaina has been downhill skiing "once, around 1995," but this will be his first time cross-country skiing. He plans to practice the day before the race and says his strategy will be "to look as cool as usual on my skis." Having won Sapporo's Hokkaido Marathon three times, Wainaina will also be the awards presenter for the 25 km and 50 km divisions. ...

http://www.topics.or.jp/localNews/news/2009/02/2009_123362622264.html http://www.47news.jp/CN/200902/CN2009020201000205.html http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2009020200646 translated and edited by Brett Larner Veteran long distance runner Harumi Hiroyama (40, Team Shiseido) announced on Feb. 2 that she plans to retire following her run in March's Tokyo Marathon. "The Tokyo Marathon will be my last race as a professional athlete," she told reporters. If her preparations for Tokyo go smoothly Hiroyama will run the Feb. 22 Kaifugawa Marathon in her native Fukushima Prefecture as a tuneup race. However, Hiroyama's husband and Team Shiseido head coach Tsutomu Hiroyama (42) cautioned that she is currently injured and may be unable to run in Tokyo. If this proves to be the case she will target another race for her last run. "Since turning 40 it has become harder and harder for Harumi to stay mentally strong and to keep in top form," Coach Hiroyama explaine...

http://www.sanspo.com/sports/top/sp200712/sp2007120304.html translated by Brett Larner Barcelona and Atlanta Olympic women`s marathon medallist Yuko Arimori unveiled her new NPO Heart of Gold on Dec. 2 at the 12th Angkor Wat International Half-Marathon in Siem Reap, Cambodia, a race which Arimori helped to found. Running Angkor Wat for the first time since retiring, this time she appeared in the guise of a `running missionary` with the aim of giving back to the world through the gift of her running. Together with a walking event the previous day, the 12th edition of the race attracted 2,327 participants from 37 countries. For 2 and 1/2 hours from the start all the way to the finish tape, Arimori ran and talked with the wheelchair racers. In beginning her `second running life,` Arimori finds that her perceptions have changed. "Since I`m not racing, I`m able to appreciate more of the running environment. I can take in other aspects of the event and want to do all I can to make...