japan running news

Nobuyuki Fujita , 81, coached women to 16 Japanese national records at the junior and senior level, from 400 m to the marathon. He led Mizuki Noguchi to Olympic marathon gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Given his deep knowledge of the track and roads, we talked to him about the current state of women's long distance. You're most well-known for Noguchi's gold medal, but as a corporate league coach athletes you developed kept breaking national records. At the Unichika team Nobuko Kono got the 400 m, 800 m and 1500 m records. At Wacoal , Mariko Ikeda got the 800 m record, Masako Matsumoto and Miho Ishibashi both broke the 1500 m record, Atsuki Ri got the 3000 m, Tsukumi Fukuyama the 10 km, Megumi Fujiwara the 20 km, Kaori Kumura the half marathon, Rika Ota the 5000 m Asian record, and, before she went to the marathon, Izumi Maki got the 20,000 m world record along with the 5000 m and 10,000 m. There were also Ikuko Tamura 's 1500 m national record and mile As...

Izumi Maki takes almost 14 seconds off the women's 10000 m national record at the 1992 Hyogo Relay Carnival.

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...

http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/news/111001/oth11100118140010-n1.htm translated and edited by Brett Larner Having taken national record holder Mizuki Noguchi  to a marathon gold medal at the Athens Olympics, Nobuyuki Fujita  (70) retired as advisor to the Sysmex corporate women's team on Sept. 30.  Fujita retired as head coach at Sysmex last October and has served in an advisory role since then.  Fujita's departure leaves head coach Hisakazu Hirose  in the leadership role at Sysmex.  According to Sysmex officials, Fujita had the option to renew his contract but after one year as an advisor opted instead for retirement. Fujita has been a leader in Japanese distance running since 1968, helping to develop Olympians including Atlanta women's marathoner Izumi Maki  and Noguchi.  Athletes he has coach have set Japanese national records at distances ranging from 400 m to the marathon. Fujita intends to focus upon the Fujita Running Academy progra...