Skip to main content

Injured Again, Noguchi is "Still Looking Toward Being Completely Healed"

http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2009041700970
http://sports.nikkei.co.jp/index.aspx?n=SSXKF0657%2017042009
http://www.daily.co.jp/general/2009/04/18/0001834808.shtml
http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/news/f-sp-tp0-20090417-484141.html
http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/flash/KFullFlash20090421020.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

2004 Athens Olympics women's marathon gold medalist Mizuki Noguchi (Team Sysmex) appeared in Ome, Tokyo on Apr. 17 to give a talk as part of her coach Nobuyuki Fujita's nationwide 'Fujita Running Academy' program. Speaking of her future, Noguchi revealed that she is still undergoing medical treatment as she told the audience, "I'm still looking toward the day when I'm completely healed, but I can't make any concrete plans."

After withdrawing from last summer's Beijing Olympics with an injury to her left leg, Noguchi had begun training for a comeback race at September's Berlin Marathon. However, the pain has returned and whether she will be able to appear in Berlin as planned is unknown. Coach Fujita said, "Things aren't feeling perfect yet, so right now Mizuki has completely stopped running. Getting 100% healthy is the goal. There's no cure for [the inflammation Noguchi is suffering in her leg], so we just have to wait for time to take care of it."

Along with massage and other treatment, Noguchi is doing regular aerobic cross-training on a cycle and in the pool to keep her overall fitness, but Noguchi herself admitted, "It's gotten to the point where all I can do is a lot of swimming. This is the first time I've ever had a long time off for a single injury, and to be honest there have been times when I've thought about quitting. I just want to get back on my feet without another relapse and I'm not going to run until everything is back to normal -- if I set any goals other than that I'll just start running again. Times like now when I can't run are the absolute worst."

In response to a question from a fan in the audience about her withdrawal from Beijing Noguchi replied, "We put too much unnecessary stress on one of my legs. I want to apologize to everyone, and I promise that I will keep trying for the London Olympics." Asked for her feelings about the Seattle Mariners' Ichiro Suzuki setting a new national record of 3086 hits, the women's marathon national record said, "We were travelling so I didn't get to see it." Coach Fujita weighed in, adding, "Harimoto, the one whose record Ichiro broke, was the same year in school as me."

Comments

Brett Larner said…
Doesn't sound too good.....
TokyoRacer said…
No, it's really too bad. Still, she is smart to just stop running until it heals completely.
dennis said…
I got important news not about Noguchi but about Salina Kosgei. I'm shocked that she just won boston today yet she did so horrible in Tokyo. She can't even beat Kano and Ozaki and Yamauchi in Tokyo. Is she doped up? She had such mediocre results and she also lost to Noguchi and all of a sudden she won.
Anonymous said…
Noguchi better watch out for Kosgei cause she can outkick anybody. Let's see Noguchi and Kosgei go head to head again. I can't wait to see Kosgei kick your butt!!!
dennis said…
How can I become Japan based. I want to joined Jitsugyodan Teams.
Brett Larner said…
Dennis--

Send me a list of your PBs for the standard distances through the email address in my profile and I will forward it to an agent colleague who handles placing overseas runners on jitsugyodan teams. If he's interested he will get in touch.


Brett
yuza said…
I watched a documentary about Noguchi here in Japan leading up to the Beijing Olympics. The thing that stands out about the documentary is the way in which both she and her coach had set out to change her running action after Athens. If you look at her running action from five years ago there is quite a difference.

I just wonder whether the adjustments made to her running action are perhaps part of the reason why she continues to get injured.

I am no expert and I am merely speculating. Either way I would just love to see her get back to full fitness.
Brett Larner said…
You might be on to something there, Yuza. I saw the documentary you mention and you're right, there was a lot of emphasis on how they'd managed to change Noguchi's form. It's interesting that you use the word 'bounce,' Jason, as I recall them using computer analysis of Noguchi's form to show how they'd reduced the amount of vertical bounce in her stride and redirected it into forward motion, i.e. longer stride. This was supposed to be of benefit on Beijing's high-density pavement.

Most-Read This Week

Japan's Olympic Marathon Team Meets the Press

With renewed confidence, Japan's Olympic marathon team will face the total 438 m elevation difference hills of Paris this summer. The members of the women's and men's marathon teams for August's Paris Olympics appeared at a press conference in Tokyo on Mar. 25 in conjunction with the Japan Marathon Championship Series III (JMC) awards gala. Women's Olympic trials winner Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) said she was riding a wave of motivation in the wake of the new women's national record. When she watched Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) set the record at January's Osaka International Women's Marathon on TV, Suzuki said she was, "absolutely stunned." Her coach Sachiko Yamashita told her afterward, "When someone breaks the NR, things change," and Suzuki found herself saying, "I want to take my shot." After training for a great run in Paris, she said, "I definitely want to break the NR in one of my marathons after that." Mao

Weekend Racing Roundup

  China saw a new men's national record of 2:06:57 from  Jie He  at the Wuxi Marathon Sunday, but in Japan it was a relatively quiet weekend with mostly cold and rainy amateur-level marathons across the country. At the Tokushima Marathon , club runner Yuhi Yamashita  won the men's race by almost 4 1/2 minutes in 2:17:02, the fastest Japanese men's time of the weekend, but oddly took 22 seconds to get across the starting line. The women's race saw a close finish between the top two, with Shiho Iwane  winning in 2:49:33 over Ayaka Furukawa , 2nd in 2:49:46.  At the 41st edition of the Sakura Marathon in Chiba, Yukie Matsumura  (Comodi Iida) ran the fastest Japanese women's time of the weekend, 2:42:45, to take the win. Club runner Yuki Kuroda  won the men's race in 2:20:08.  Chika Yokota  won the Saga Sakura Marathon women's race in 2:49:33.  Yuki Yamada  won the men's race in 2:21:47 after taking the lead in the final 2 km.  Naoki Inoue  won the 16th r

Sprinter Shoji Tomihisa Retires From Athletics at 105

A retirement ceremony for local masters track and field legend Shoji Tomihisa , 105, was held May 13 at his usual training ground at Miyoshi Sports Park Field in Miyoshi, Hiroshima. Tomihisa began competing in athletics at age 97, setting a Japanese national record 16.98 for 60 m in the men's 100~104 age group at the 2017 Chugoku Masters Track and Field meet. Last year Tomihisa was the oldest person in Hiroshima selected to run as a torchbearer in the Tokyo Olympics torch relay. Due to the coronavirus pandemic the relay on public roads was canceled, and while he did take part in related ceremonies his run was ultimately canceled. Tomihisa recently took up the shot put, but in light of his fading physical strength he made the decision to retire from competition. Around 30 members of the Shoji Tomihisa Booster Club attended the retirement ceremony. After receiving a bouquet of flowers from them Tomihisa in turn gave them a colored paper placard on which he had written the characters