japan running news

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...

The KGRR , organizers of the Hakone Ekiden , have announced that the event's World Athletics Heritage Plaque awarded at a ceremony at May's 101st Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships will be on permanent display at the Hakone Ekiden Museum in Kanagawa along with a replica of the statue at the the Hakone Ekiden start and finish point in Otemachi, Tokyo. The items are to be delivered to the museum on June 27, after which they will be incorporated into its exhibits and opened for public viewing.  The Heritage Plaque program , the "World Heritage Site" of athletics, was established by World Athletics in December, 2018. The program recognizes important elements of the sport's heritage in five categories: City  - Awarded to locations that have hosted multiple important international competitions. Competitions  - Awarded to key global events with a long history. Legends  - Awarded to athletes, coaches and officials. Landmarks  - Awarded to stadiums an...

A new documentary about Naoko Takahashi , Olympic gold medalist and first woman to break 2:20 in the marathon.

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

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...

by Shoko Egawa Egawa is an investigate journalist who made her name doing early work on the Aum death cult. Here she looks at the situation surrounding 2005 Helsinki World Championships marathon team member Yumiko Hara , who blamed a string of arrests for shoplifting on an eating disorder she claims to have developed as a result of the psychological trauma of the strict dietary and weight restrictions her corporate league coach put upon her. "The weight restrictions were severe, way beyond what any other team did, and it was especially hard to take because I was the only they were being applied to. At meals the head coach told me, 'Eat this. Don't eat this.' I was weighed repeatedly throughout the day to the point that I was afraid to drink water because I thought my weight would increase by the amount of the water." Earlier this summer former marathon national team member Yumiko Hara underwent questioning under Maebashi District Court Ota Branch judge Ma...

On July 18 it was learned from several sources connected with the situation that a member of the 2017 National Corporate Women's Ekiden champion team Universal Entertainment who left the team at the end of last season tested positive for a banned substance in a doping test carried out at the ekiden. Universal Entertainment won the national championship race, its second-ever title and first in five years. But because the athlete's result will be annulled the team will also be stripped of its title, an unprecedented situation in the ekiden's history. According to an involved source, before the race the athlete took her own personal medicine which included the prohibited substance. The athlete denied having taking the medicine in order to enhance her performance. Team management claimed the athlete had not informed then that she was taking it, and that the situation was the result of her personal carelessness. The Universal Entertainment team was founded under the name ...

Accused of shoplifting 380 yen [~$3.50 USD] worth of candy from a supermarket in Ota, Gunma in February while under probation in another shoplifting case, former World Championships marathoner Yumiko Hara , 36, now a restaurant worker, underwent questioning in her second trial at Maebashi District Ota Branch Court under judge Masaya Okuyama . Crying as she spoke, Hara confessed to having shoplifted as an elementary school student. She said that as an athlete she had developed an eating disorder due to the strict weight restrictions and had resorted to stealing food. Even after retiring, she said, "I would throw up food after eating it." "I was always hungry, always felt thirsty," Hara said of her time as an athlete. "They put severe restrictions on my weight that went way beyond what any other university or corporate team would do." She said that after joining the corporate leagues her coach would take her wallet away from her at training camps so t...

On June 3 it was revealed that 2013 Moscow World Championships women's 10000 m 5th-placer Hitomi Niiya , 30, will run the women's 3000 m at the June 9 Nittai University Time Trials as part of the Nike Tokyo Track Club. Her first race in over four years, the race represents her first step on the road to a comeback in time for the 2020 Tokyo Oympic Games. According to a club spokesperson, Niiya began running again last summer. Her goal at Nittai to clear the 9:50 qualifying time for July's Hokuren Distance Challenge series in Hokkaido, where she will run the 5000 m in order to secure the 15:40.00 standard for the 2019 National Championships. A native of Soja, Okayama, while at Kojokan H.S. Niiya won the 6.0 km First Stage at the National High School Ekiden three years in a row. Two of those runs broke the course record, with her time of 18:52 still standing as the course record. No other runner has ever broken 19 minutes. Together with her future London Olympics teamma...

A World Championships marathoner was arrested for shoplifting . On Aug. 17 The Tochigi Prefectural Police Ashikaga Department arrested temp worker Yumiko Hara , 35, on suspicion of stealing skin lotion and other items from a convenience store. Yoshio Koide , Hara's former coach at the Universal Entertainment corporate team and head of the Saku Athlete Club, was surprised by the events. "She trained harder than anybody," Koide said. "She never missed training, and she was really f*cking serious. I think there must have been a reason for her to commit shoplifting, but she was always a normal kind of girl who would say, "Yes!" when you told her to do something. When she retired she said, 'I've done what I could but I just can't run the way I want to.' I haven't spoken to her since she quit, but it's very unfortunate news and I can't understand it." source article:   https://www.nikkansports.com/general/nikkan/news/1873808...

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/running/kataru/20140723-OYT8T50026.html translated by Brett Larner Part of a series, an interview with former women's marathon world record holder and Sydney Olympics gold medalist Naoko Takahashi , the first woman to ever break 2:20 for the marathon. With regard to the Japanese athletics world, ever since Mizuki Noguchi won the medal at the Athens Olympics women's long distance has taken a downturn. Yes, it has fallen a bit, hasn't it? Are there any athletes in particular that you're paying special attention to? Personally speaking, I'm watching Natsuki Omori from Ritsumeikan University. She never made the National High School Championships, but now that she's in her second year of university she has just exploded and is developing quickly. She's aggressive and has really nice form, so if she can keep going like this for four years without getting injured then I want to see her go to the marathon. She's somebody ...

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2014/01/25/kiji/K20140125007456230.html translated and edited by Brett Larner photo by Mika Tokairin On Jan. 25 a representative of Moscow World Championships women's 10000 m 5th-placer Hitomi Niiya  (25, Team Universal Entertainment) announced Niiya's retirement.  A press conference to explain the decision is scheduled for Jan. 31. Born in Okayama, as a student at Kojokan H.S. she won her stage at the National High School Ekiden Championships three years in a row.  In 2006 she joined the Toyota Jidoshoki corporate team, and the following year at age 18 won the first Tokyo Marathon.  In 2011 she  left Toyota Jidoshokki to remain with coach Yoshio Koide  when the team moved from Chiba to Aichi, qualifying as an independent for the Daegu World Championships where she made the final in the 5000 m .  After joining the Universal Entertainment team she won the 2012 National Championships 5000 m , and at th...

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/e-japan/aichi/news/20131111-OYT8T01064.htm translated and edited by Brett Larner Having helped lead Toyokawa H.S. to its first-ever National High School Ekiden Championships title , women's long-distance runner Nanaka Izawa  (Sr., Juntendo Univ.) has signed a contract to join the 2012 national champion Universal Entertainment corporate league team following her graduation next spring.  At Universal she will also receive coaching from the legendary coach of Sydney Olympics women's marathon gold medalist and former world record holder Naoko Takahashi , the Universal-affiliated Sakura AC's Yoshio Koide .  Currently doing student teacher work back at Toyokawa, Izawa showed her resolve as she said, "My future is in the marathon, and the Tokyo Olympics are my goal." At the National High School Ekiden Championships Izawa ran the Third Stage as a first-year, the Second Stage as a second-year, and the ace First Stage as a third-year, winnin...

by Brett Larner This year's Japanese Olympic track squad includes three women and only one man in the distance events, all of whom are scheduled to double at 5000 m and 10000 m.  The women's team features 5000 m national record holder Kayoko Fukushi  (Team Wacoal), 5000 m national champion Hitomi Niiya  (Team Univ. Ent.) and 10000 m national champion Mika Yoshikawa  (Team Panasonic), while two-time men's 10000 m national champion Yuki Sato  (Team Nissin Shokuhin) will be the sole Japanese man in the 5 and 10. Fukushi originally targeted the marathon in London, but after a failed qualification race in Osaka in January she regrouped and went back to the track, where she is already a two-time Olympian.    Sub-par throughout the spring, at the Olympic Trials she acted as an unofficial pacer for Yoshikawa to get the 10000 m A-standard, finishing 2nd in 31:43.25 but a lock for the team with a career 2nd-best 30:54.29 A-standard mark at last year's P...

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/athletics/news/20120626-OHT1T00269.htm translated by Brett Larner Click photo to visit Niiya's profile on the Universal Entertainment team site. At a Tokyo-area press conference late last week, Olympian Hitomi Niiya  (24, Team Universal Entertainment) announced that she plans to double in the 5000 m and 10000 m.  Niiya had initially considered running only the 5000 m, but wanting to get the greatest mileage out of her Olympic debut she has chosen to run both events.  He coach Yoshio Koide  (73), who has developed many top athletes including Sydney Olympic women's marathon gold medalist Naoko Takahashi  (40), believes that the one-of-a-kind athlete he is sending to London is capable of overtaking the Africans and advancing into the upper end of the field. Well-known for a career which has moved in 'mysterious ways,' Niiya will make a two-pronged attack in London.  "I'm going to run to 10000 m too," she said. ...

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20120214-OHT1T00212.htm translated by Brett Larner The 46th Ome Road Race takes place this Sunday, Feb. 19.  This year 20000 runners from across the country are entered, 15000 in the 30 km and 5000 in the 10 km.  This is the first in a five-part series on runners who will help call in spring on the streets of Ome. At the Feb. 5 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon, Kaori Yoshida  (30, Amino Vital AC) drew attention for her pacemaking of comedian runner Hiroshi Neko , 34, who was attempting to qualify for Cambodia's London Olympic team after having changed his citizenship.  Running between 17 and 18 minutes per 5 km, Yoshida finished her run at the 30 km point in 1:46:22.  "I kind of wanted to keep going, but I knew I had other races coming up so I stopped there," she says with a wry smile.  Neko went on to smash his PB with a new mark of 2:30:26, opening up the door for his chances for the Olympics.  His result...

http://photo.sankei.jp.msn.com/kodawari/data/2012/01/0122chiba/ http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/120123/spg1201230505006-n1.htm translated and edited by Brett Larner The 36th Chiba Marine Half-Marathon took place Jan. 22 in Mihama, Chiba.  From the family fun run to the half-marathon division, a total of over 15,000 people took part, enjoying themselves despite the cold rain that fell during the race. In the federation-registered women's half-marathon division, 2010 champion Saori Kitamura  of Juntendo University returned to win again in 1:15:51.  In the federation-registered men's half-marathon division, Tokyo Keizai University senior Sho Tsukisawa  won for the first time in 1:06:39. Beijing Olympics triathlete Ai Ueda  (Inage Inter AC) won the open women's half-marathon for the third-straight year.  Popular running personalities Mari Tanigawa  and Yoshio Koide  were also on hand to give a talk to participants and to cheer them on. On...

by Brett Larner Japan's medal chances in the long distance events at the Daegu World Championships may be very slim at best, but the country is nevertheless sending a strong contingent including three national record holders and some of the best young talent to have emerged in recent years.  Chief among them are Yuki Sato  (Team Nissin Shokuhin), on the cusp of a national record in the last two years, and the resurgent Megumi Kinukawa  (Team Mizuno), the women's 10000 m junior national record holder coached by Samuel Wanjiru 's high school-era coach Takao Watanabe . 2011 World Championships Japanese Long Distance Team Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - Men's 10000 m 2011 national champion, 10000 m Born:  Nov. 26, 1986 (24 yrs.) PB:  27:38.25 (2009; all-time Japanese #3) 3000 m: 7:44.63 (2010; all-time Japanese #2) 5000 m: 13:23.57 (2006) In university Sato was described by his competitors as a monster, breaking Hakone Ekiden stage records his first ...

http://www.toyota-shokki.co.jp/news/2011/110323athletics/ translated by Brett Larner The Toyota Jidoshokki Women's Track and Field Team hereby announces that effective April 1, 2011, it will relocate its training base to Kariya, Aichi. On March 23 the team registered its membership with the central Japan Chubu Corporate Track and Field Association. As a company-sponsored team, the Toyota Jidoshokki team management wished to be closer to the parent company's headquarters and through sports to help make a positive contribution to the company's workers. The women's track and field team has been based in Sakura, Chiba since 2001, but by relocating to the company's headquarters in Kariya, Aichi they hope to help foster a stronger community feeling among the general workforce. In addition, Shigeo Hasegawa , head coach of 2010 National High School Ekiden champions Kojokan H.S., will take over as Toyota Jidoshokki head coach. The team's athletes have left the Sakura ...