japan running news

The fact that Beijing Olympics men's marathon winner Samuel Wanjiru and previous Kenyan marathon medalists Erick Wainaina and Douglas Wakiihuri all trained under Japanese coaches has gotten a fair amount of press recently. Less well-known is the fact that Chinese runners Chunxiu Zhou, who won the bronze medal in the women's marathon in Beijing and the silver medal at last year's Osaka World Championships marathon, and Xiaolin Zhu, who was 4th in both the Beijing Olympics and Osaka World Championships marathons, are also trained by a Japanese coach, Shinya Takeuchi. I posted an interesting profile of Takeuchi on Aug. 14 and in light of the attention being paid to Wanjiru's Japanese development I thought it worthwhile to bring it back up. Click here to read Takeuchi's profile, including some discussion of Zhou and Zhu's training.

originally published in the Nikkei Newspaper http://www2.asahi.com/olympic2008/column/TKY200711260074.html translated and edited by Brett Larner When Shinya Takeuchi began to coach runners in the Chinese prefecture of Jiangsu 20 years ago, the shoes they wore were made from cheap rubber, just like those worn in Japan right after World War II. "They run marathons in these?" he thought in disbelief. When his runners had good results in international races, people involved in the Chinese running industry asked him almost every day, "What kind of drugs are you using?" He was bewildered by the difference from the Japanese running environment. Now he feels the possibilities present in Chinese runners' power. Takeuchi, 76, former head coach of the now-defunct UFJ Bank Track and Field Team, became an advisor for the Chinese national marathon team last autumn. He has been helping Chinese runners for a long time but only recently has received an official position from the...