japan running news

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.

Naoko Takahashi completes the lineup for the 2000 Sydney Olympic team at that spring's Nagoya International Women's Marathon. Victory interview below.

Eri Yamaguchi , Masako Chiba , Junko Ichikawa and more try to make it onto the 2000 Sydney Olympic team at the 1999 Tokyo International Women's Marathon. Parts 2~4 below.

It's the perfect time for a classic. Fresh off her Olympic gold medal in Sydney, at the 2001 Berlin Marathon Naoko Takahashi becomes the first woman in history to break the 2:20 barrier.

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, ...

On Apr. 10, 1999 Wrold Championships silver medalist and 2000 Sydney Olympian Ari Ichihashi announced on her Instagram account that a breast cancer exam had revealed the need for more detailed examination. She said that there was "no problem" with the results but that she "would like to make use of this opportunity to deal with breast cancer and health issues facing women." Ichihashi currently helps coach a running club, makes frequent guest appearances at races, and does television commentary. In the midst of such a busy lifestyle she had a routine examination and was surprised that, "when the results came back a lump was visible in the mammogram." Afterward she underwent further examination, illuminating her uneasy feelings as she wrote, "I was only there a few days, but the faces of my beloved family and friends kept coming to me one after another. I feel like I haven't really done much to leave behind so I want to use the time I left mea...

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...

Former Japanese men's national record holder in the marathon and Kanebo corporate ekiden team head coach Toshinari Takaoka , 47, appeared at a training and conditioning symposium last week in Osaka to discuss his training during his career as an athlete. His talk revealed the secret of how to successfully tackle 42.195 km. Before Yuta Shitara (26, Honda) set a new national record at February's Tokyo Marathon, Takaoka's mark of 2:06:16 stood as the Japanese national record for 16 years. In his lecture Takaoka mainly discussed his training for the 2003 Fukuoka International Marathon, a selection race for the 2004 Athens Olympics marathon team. Takaoka focused on five points: 40 km runs mileage utilization of racing speed work maintaining a pace of 3:00/km From August through November that year Takaoka did nine 40 km runs at 3:30/km for a total time of 2 hours and 20 minutes. "At first 40 km runs were painful because I wasn't accustomed to the distance,...

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 ...

http://www.kobe-np.co.jp/news/sports/201505/0008049840.shtml translated by Brett Larner A former marathon great is working hard in her position as head coach.  International Pacific University in Okayama has named 2000 Sydney Olympics marathon 7th-placer Eri Yamaguchi , 42, to lead its new women's ekiden team.  Returning to the field of competition for the first time in four years, Yamaguchi was full of a sense of mission as she said, "I want to pass to them everything that I learned and accomplished." In March, 2011 Yamaguchi left her job as assistant coach at the Tenmaya women's corporate team to get married, afterward focusing on developing juniors.  When the knock on the door came from IPU she was conflicted, asking herself, "Can you go back to the competitive world?  You won't be able to take care of your family any more."  But after talking with IPU president Hiroshi Ohashi , she said, "I got a strong desire to help develop a strong ekid...

http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2014052300819 translated by Brett Larner On May 23 International Pacific University in Okayama announced that it has hired 2000 Sydney Olympics marathon 7th-place finisher Eri Yamaguchi , 41, as an assistant coach of its track and field team.  Yamaguchi will be responsible for the women's middle and long distance programs. Yamaguchi was named to the Sydney Olympics team after winning the 1999 Tokyo International Women's Marathon in 2:22:12, then the 2nd-fastest time in Japanese women's marathoning history.  Since retiring in 2005 her activities have included coaching work with her former corporate team, Tenmaya .

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20131001-00000000-spnavi-spo translated by Brett Larner The Japan Post Group held a press conference Oct. 1 in Tokyo to formally launch its new women's distance running team.   Masahiko Takahashi , who helped train Sydney Olympics women's marathon gold medalist and former world record holder Naoko Takahashi  and two-time Olympic marathon medalist Yuko Arimori , was named to the team's leadership position along with the announcement of an initial lineup of five female athletes headed by 2013 World University Games 10000 m gold medalist Ayuko Suzuki (Nagoya Univ.). Scheduled to get underway at the start of the new fiscal year on April 1, 2014, the women's distance team is the first fully sports-oriented team that the Japan Post Group has sponsored since its founding.  The strong and deep parallel between the postal service's mission of faithfully delivering letters and the ekiden's ideal of passing on the tasuki to those ye...

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://nz.entertainment.yahoo.com/091117/5/fq9q.html

http://www.47news.jp/CN/200909/CN2009091501000561.html translated by Brett Larner Sydney and Athens Olympics distance runner Megumi Oshima, 34, gave birth to a baby boy on Sept. 14. Looking for a sponsor, Oshima hopes to make a comeback to the running world and compete in the 2012 London Olympics together with her husband Kenta Oshima, 30, (Team Nissin Shokuhin). Oshima and Kenta met during the course of their professional running careers and married in June, 2004. Both wanted children, so the couple planned to have one following the announcement of the teams for the Beijing Olympics. Having left her sponsoring company last year, Oshima was in the midst of looking for a way to continue her life as a professional athlete when she discovered she was pregnant in January. "Counting backward from my planned peak at the selection race for the London Olympic team and taking my age into account we decided that this was the only good chance we'd have for a child," she says. "...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/feedarticle/8571923 Japanese-language variations on this article mentioned that Takahashi is thinking of running next year's Tokyo Marathon.

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://sports.nikkei.co.jp/index.aspx?n=SSXKB0323%2008122008 translated by Brett Larner Management for former women's marathon legend Naoko Takahashi, who announced her retirement in October, revealed on Dec. 8 that Takahashi will run March's Nagoya International Women's Marathon in the individual entrant division, following through on a long-standing plan to run a 'Thank You' race for her fans. "I want to show my deepest gratitude to all those who cheered and supported me. I'll keep going on step by step as I look back at my running life," commented Takahashi. Although she will run the race among the amateurs, Takahashi will head to Kagoshima Prefecture's Tokunoshima in February for a training camp as part of her preparation for Nagoya. Takahashi set her first Japanese national record at Nagoya in 1998, marking it as a special race in her heart. She won the 2000 Nagoya to qualify for the Sydney Olympics, where she went on to win Japan's f...