News18 Jul 2005


Berlin will be Noguchi's first post-Olympic marathon

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Mizuki Noguchi running 5000m in Gyeonggi-Do Hwaseong, Korea (© Kazutaka Eguchi - Agence SHOT)

Japan's Olympic Champion Mizuki Noguchi will run the 32nd real,- Berlin Marathon on 25 September.

In tremendous heat Mizuki Noguchi won the Olympic Marathon in Athens in August 2004 in sensational style, beating the big favourite, the marathon World record holder Paula Radcliffe (Great Britain/2:15:25), and World champion Catherine Ndereba (Kenya), she clocked 2:26:20 on the hilly course.

First race since the Olympic triumph

Berlin will be Noguchi's first race at the classic distance of 42.195 km since her Olympic triumph, which made her an idol in Japan. The small runner (1.50m / 41 kilos) had shown no interest in qualifying for the World Championship's marathon in Helsinki and instead intends to beat her personal best and the Japanese record on a flat and fast course. That was the reason to opt for Berlin. At present she has a PB of 2:21:18 with which she set when she won the Osaka Marathon in 2003. The race on 25 September will be broadcasted live in Japan.

Five times in a row

Japanese women have won Berlin five times in a row since 2000. The biggest highlight so far was Naoko Takahashi's World record performance in 2001, when she became the first woman to break 2:20 (2:19:46). Last year Yoko Shibui improved the course record by five seconds to 2:19:41, it was at the same time new Japanese record and year’s world best time.  The other winners from Japan had been in 2000, Kazumi Matsuo in 2:26:15, Naoko Takahashi won for the second time in 2:21:49 in 2002, and Yasuko Hashimoto won in 2:26:32 in 2003.

But the Japanese men have run big races in Berlin too. The best of them had been in 1999 when Takayuki Inubushi, took second place in 2:06:57 with a new Asian and Japanese record. In 2000, in fourth place was Takahiro Sunada in 2:10:08, and in 2001 Tsuyoshi Ogata ran with 2:10:06. Berlin is a legend for Japanese runners and TV viewers.

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