japan running news

The Paris Olympics have just ended and the Paralympics are set to kick off next week on the 28th, but the focus is already shifting to the Los Angeles Olympics 4 years down the road. International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach , 70, will step down from his position at the end of his term next June. The word is that IOC member Morinari Watanabe , 65, president of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), is planning to run in the election for Bach's successor in March. If elected, Watanabe would become the first Japanese head of the IOC. While Bach was a gold medalist in the men's fencing team competition at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, Watanabe never competed at the Olympics let alone medaled. After joining the Jusco retail chain in 1984, he worked as a salaryman office worker for the Aeon Group, Jusco's renamed parent corporation and served as director of the Japan Gymnastic Association. In 2017 he became FIG's first Asian president. Under Watanabe...

http://mainichi.jp/area/nagasaki/news/20120227ddlk42050279000c.html http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/osaka/sports/article/news/20120228-OHO1T00105.htm translated and edited by Brett Larner photo by Dr. Helmut Winter At the Feb. 26 Tokyo Marathon, Isahaya, Nagasaki native and Isahaya H.S. alum Arata Fujiwara , 30, was the top Japanese finisher at 2nd overall in 2:07:48, immediately elevating him into the top position among the contenders for the London Olympic team.  Voices of support and congratulations have poured in from his hometown friends and colleagues and from his former teachers.  As a student at Isahaya H.S. Fujiwara never made it to the National High School Championships, but according to his coach at Isahaya, Toshihiro Matsumoto , even in those days he never neglected his training and was always focused on improving, traits that remain inside him now. Two weeks ago, with no doubt in his voice, Fujiwara told his former coach by phone, "I'm going to run 2:07. ...