Japan’s Marathon medal quest

Japan’s women marathon runners have won a medal at the last three Olympics - Yuko Arimori won silver in Barcelona and bronze in Atlanta, while Naoko Takahashi won gold in the last Olympics.

The Athens squad of Mizuki Noguchi, Naoko Sakamoto and Reiko Tosa will be hopeful of keeping that record going in Athens though the tough course and the excessive temperatures will mount as much of a threat to their aspirations as will the formidable field of opponents.

The Japanese also have won at least one medal at every World Championships since 1991 except 1995.  Twice – Junko Asari in 1993 and Hiromi Suzuki in 1997 – the Japanese have won the World Championships marathon. 

Olympic Debuts

Noguchi, Sakamoto and Tosa, will all be running their first Olympic race in Athens on Sunday (22 August), and several common themes can be identified.

All three have run well in the World Championships, with Tosa winning a silver medal in Edmonton in 2001, while Noguchi and Sakamoto finished second and fourth respectively in Paris last year.

They were also all mediocre runners in high school. Noguchi, had a high school best for 3000m of 9:40.44, failed to qualify for the final in the national inter-high school championships. Tosa was even slower, her high school best at 3000m being 9:41.05.  Of the three, Sakamoto was the fastest on the track at this stage of their careers, recording the best of 2:16:56 and 9:33.93 for 800m and 3000m respectively.

Half Marathon success has come to all.

Noguchi gained prominence as the queen of the half marathon in Japan, having finished second, fourth and fourth in the World Half Marathon Championships in 1999, 2000 and 2001 respectively. Tosa also made her breakthrough at the half marathon.  In her debut in the 1999 Sapporo half marathon she finished 6th in 1:10:59, and then in the 1999 World Half Marathon championships in Palermo, she came 6th with the personal best, 1:09:36. Though Sakamoto has never run at the World Half Marathon Championships, she has recorded a 1:09:27 best.

Spectacular Marathon beginnings

All three have also made spectacular marathon debuts. Noguchi won the 2002 Nagoya Women’s Marathon in 2:25:35 despite unseasonably warm weather. Tosa’s serious marathon debut was at the 2000 Nagoya Women marathon, where she finished second to soon to be Olympic marathon champion, Naoko Takahashi, in 2:24.36. Sakamoto was second in the 2003 Osaka Ladies Marathon recording the second fastest (behind Paula Radcliffe) marathon debut time in history, 2:21:51.

High Altitude

All three have also been training at high altitude in their preparation for the Athens Olympic marathon. Noguchi in Europe (Saint Moritz, where she also trained for the World Championships in Paris), Sakamoto in North America (Nederland, Colorado, USA), and Tosa in Asia (Kunming, China). 

“Sakamoto has an exceptional sense of tactics.  She knows when to make her move,” emphasized Yutaka Taketomi, coach of Sakamoto.

Hideo Suzuki, who coaches Tosa, believes the hopes of his charge become better as the weather gets worse. “Hotter the day or windier the day it is better for Tosa.”

“Because the Olympics is the best stage for athletes, I would like to perform at my best in Athens,” said Noguchi giving her thoughts on the upcoming Olympic Games. 

Nobuyuki Fujita, who coaches Noguchi, commented “the key to the course is whether one can change the pace smoothly on the downhill part of the course.”  Noguchi worked on that aspect in Saint Moritz.

Ken Nakamura for the IAAF

Mizuki Noguchi

2:25:35  1st Nagoya Women’s Marathon March 10, 2002
2:21:18  1st Osaka Ladies Marathon  January 26, 2003
2:24:14  2nd World Championships, Paris August 31, 2003

Naoko Sakamoto

2:21:51  2nd Osaka Ladies Marathon  January 26, 2003
2:25:25  4th World Championships, Paris August 31, 2003
2:25:29  1st Osaka Ladies Marathon  January 25, 2004
 

Reiko Tosa

2:54:47  1st Ehime Marathon   February 22, 1998
2:24:36  2nd Nagoya Women’s Marathon  March 12, 2000
2:24:47  2nd Tokyo Women’s Marathon  November 19, 2000
2:26:06  2nd World Championships, Edmonton August 12, 2001
2:22:46  4th London Marathon    April 14, 2002
2:23:57  1st Nagoya Women’s Marathon  March 14, 2004