Koji Murofushi of Japan competes in the Men's Hammer Throw Final (© Getty Images)
World Championships finalist Koji Murofushi who was a respectable third at the recent IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final shares his pride in his home country Japan, having hosted the 11th IAAF World Championships in Athletics.
“How are you? With only Asian athletics tours left in the season, the 2007 track season is almost over.
“How have you been? The 2007 World Championships in Athletics, which was held in Osaka this past summer, attracted lots of attention from many Japanese.
“Because most of the major track & field meets are held in Europe, the World Championships were a rare occasion for Japanese to see the first class track & field in person.
“I think it was good for Japanese fans to see how wonderful the sport of track & field really is! The level of competition in the men’s Hammer Throw at the World Championships, the event I took part in, was the highest ever, and because of it many fans were able to enjoy watching the competition.
“I threw 80.46m and finished sixth, so I would like to redeem myself in Beijing.
“I had a competition every week in September, which made it hard for me to keep good physical condition throughout the month.
“I would like to make it a fruitful ending of the season as well as good starting point for the next season.
“The other day, I heard an interesting story from a college professor. Cheetahs cover 100m in three seconds, while Kangaroos jump 13m in a single bound. Humans are no match against them.
“However, in the last 100 years, humans improved the 100m sprint time by about one second. Unlike Cheetahs and Kangaroos, we humans make progress because of our ingenuity and also because we train.
“Thoroughbreds are exception, of course, but I am convinced that we humans are creatures who make progress and the sports of track & field attest to this fact.
"I will write again soon.”
Koji
