japan running news

On Dec. 11 the Japan Olympic Committee announced that Japan's 2008 Beijing Olympics men's 4x100 m relay team has been officially elevated from the bronze medal position to silver. The leading runner for former gold medalists Jamaica, Nesta Carter , tested positive for prohibited substances in an antidoping test, leading to the IOC stripping the Jamaican team of its medals. Carter appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport but lost the appeal in June this year. The International Olympic Committee released a statement on the official change in status on Dec. 7. A medal ceremony will be held for the four team members at a later date. The Japanese national team ran 38.15 at the Beijing Olympics. Its four members in running order were Naoki Tsukahara , Shingo Suetsugu , Shinji Takahira and Nobuharu Asahara . Their bronze medal was only the second Japanese Olympic medal on the track in history, the first coming 80 years earlier at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics whe...

All three Japanese athletes in the men's 100 m made it through to the semifinals on the opening day of the 2017 London World Championships. 18-year-old Abdul Hakim Sani Brown turned heads by tying his 10.05 PB to win Heat Two despite a -0.6 m/s headwind. Rio Olympics 4x100 m silver medalist Aska Cambridge , who suffered a minor injury at June's National Championships, was clearly not back to peak form, running only 10.21 for 4th in Heat Four to squeeze through to the finals on time. Unluckily drawing a starting position next to Usain Bolt (Jamaica) in Heat Six, Shuhei Tada held up to the pressure of his World Championships debut as delivered his usual quick start to lead almost the entire way. Bolt ran him down but it took almost until the line for James Dasolu (Great Britain) and Jimmy Vicaut (France) to catch up, but despite taking 4th Tada made it through on time in 10.19. His result showed why track and field is a great sport. Three months ago he was almost unknown...

http://news.biglobe.ne.jp/entertainment/0827/mnn_150827_4806869453.html http://news.mynavi.jp/news/2015/08/26/220/ http://news.mynavi.jp/news/2015/08/24/379/ translated and edited by Brett Larner At 9:39 p.m. on Aug. 26 during the TBS network's exclusive live broadcast of the Beijing World Championships , the men's 200 m Semifinal 2 featuring Japan's 16-year-old Abdul Hakim Sani Brown recorded an instantaneous viewership rating of 25.5%, the highest so far during these World Championships.  The high ratings continued during Semifinal 3, Japan's Kei Takase and Kenji Fujimitsu pulling in ratings of 24.5% at 9:47 p.m.  For comparison, Sani Brown's opening heat on Aug. 25 where he placed 2nd generated 23.1% viewership ratings, with world record holder Usain Bolt 's 200 m heat attracting only 19.9% ratings.  Bolt's 100 m title defense over rival Justin Gatlin on Aug. 23 scored 24.2% viewership ratings. Average ratings for the men's 200 m semifina...

http://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/9997814/ translated and edited by Brett Larner The civil servant runner plans to step down from the dream stage where the world's fastest men run.  On April 12 Yuki Kawauchi (28, Saitama Pref. Gov't) ran as a special guest at the local Honjo Waseda no Mori Cross Country Race and Half Marathon in Saitama, winning the half marathon in 1:07:47.  Afterward he told reporters that following the 2017 London World Championships he will "retire" from competing to be on the Japanese national team.  "My plan is to win a medal at the London World Championships and then to really say sayonara to the national team," he said. At the time of the 2013 Moscow World Championships Kawauchi also suggested he would remove himself from consideration for future world level national teams, but he continues to work hard in anticipation of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.  To Kawauchi, who has struggled in hot weather races in the past,...

by Brett Larner On the seventh day of competition at the 2013 Moscow World Championships, national champions Hitomi Shimura  (Saga T&F Assoc.) and Yuki Ebihara  (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) were both eliminated in the opening rounds of the women's 100 m hurdles and women's javelin.  200 m men Kei Takase  (Team Fujitsu) and Yuichi Kobayashi  (Team NTN) were likewise cut out in the heats, Kobayashi run down in the final meters of Heat Four after running virtually even with world record holder Usain Bolt  (Jamaica) coming off the curve.  2010 world junior champion Shota Iizuka  (Chuo Univ.) took 3rd in Heat Six to advance to the semi-finals, but with only a slight improvement there he was unable to advance to the final.  Iizuka remains the anchor of the Japanese men's 4x100 m relay team, but the team's hopes have been dimmed by the withdrawal of ace Ryota Yamagata (Keio Univ.) with a hamstring injury sustained in the 100 m heats. Moscow World ...

http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/news/130812/oth13081210240018-n1.htm translated by Brett Larner Japan's sprint ace Ryota Yamagata  (Keio Univ.) has been removed from the 4x100 m relay team after suffering a pulled muscle in the rear of his left thigh.  The injury occurred during the men's 100 m heats on August 10.  It was diagnosed as a muscle pull on the 11th, and after consultation with the team doctor and trainers Yamagata was removed from the relay team.  According to Rikuren sprint director Koji Ito , "He can walk, but it is not a light injury." Yamagata ran the same heat as world record holder Usain Bolt  (Jamaica), his reaction time of 0.172 the ranking him fifth in the heat.  "Up to halfway I couldn't open up to top speed," Yamagata reflected of his race, where at halfway he quickly looked around and found he was in competition with four or five other athletes.  Dueling with a South African athlete in the lane to his right, Yamagata cross...

http://www.supersport.com/athletics/international/news/130502/Japan_teen_tipped_to_become_fastest_Asian Click here for a playlist of Yoshihide Kiryu  videos from over the last year by naoki620.

http://www.47news.jp/CN/200904/CN2009041101000666.html http://www.nikkei.co.jp/news/shakai/20090412STXKA043812042009.html translated and edited by Brett Larner (updated 4/15) In the wake of a scandal involving a now-expelled pole vaulter's alleged marijuana use at one of its training facilities, the Nihon Taiku (Nittai) University track and field team announced on Apr. 11 that the entire team will undergo suspension from competition through the end of the month. The team will miss several important competitions as a result, including its long-distance squad's home meet which was scheduled for Apr. 18 and 19. Nittai University has kept the 46 members of the alleged perpetrator's pole vault and jump squad on indefinite suspension. The rest of the track and field team was suspended from Mar. 3-5 immediately following the original incident, but with the new academic year beginning in April those in power decided upon re-examination of the details to extend the entire team'...

by Brett Larner event videos listed at bottom The 36 year old anchor of Japan's Beijing Olympics bronze medal-winning men's 4 x 100 m relay team, Nobuharu Asahara (Team Osaka Gas), was the main attraction at the 2008 Seiko Super Track and Field Meet in Kawasaki , a near sellout crowd filling Kawasaki's Todoroki Stadium to witness Asahara's final run before his retirement. Despite the cancellation of several stars including men's 110 m hurdles world record holder Dayron Robles, Japanese fans were treated to a bonus in the unpublicized surprise guest appearance by Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt, who came out to greet fans during the opening ceremonies. Usain Bolt and the Japanese Olympic men's 4 x 100 m team. In the field events, women's long jump national record holder Kumiko Ikeda (Team Suzuki) fouled on her first three jumps before finally getting on the scoreboard. She ultimately finished 2nd behind Russian Tatiana Lebedeva, a two-time Olympic medalist an...