japan running news

The Paris Olympics have just ended and the Paralympics are set to kick off next week on the 28th, but the focus is already shifting to the Los Angeles Olympics 4 years down the road. International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach , 70, will step down from his position at the end of his term next June. The word is that IOC member Morinari Watanabe , 65, president of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), is planning to run in the election for Bach's successor in March. If elected, Watanabe would become the first Japanese head of the IOC. While Bach was a gold medalist in the men's fencing team competition at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, Watanabe never competed at the Olympics let alone medaled. After joining the Jusco retail chain in 1984, he worked as a salaryman office worker for the Aeon Group, Jusco's renamed parent corporation and served as director of the Japan Gymnastic Association. In 2017 he became FIG's first Asian president. Under Watanabe...

The problems of voyeurism and sexual harassment of female athletes reached the mainstream via Kyodo News' reporting in the fall of 2020. KN's Risa Kamata reports, "Just doing track and field is enough to make you a target of sexualization. The live comments on the broadcast site of a national competition were full of obscene comments. When young women see that it can be enough to keep them away from the sport." Kyodo News' reporting on the damage caused by voyeuristic filming of female athletes and the spread of sexually explicit comments and images of them on social media had a major impact. When the initial reporting on sexualized imagery of female athletes hit the mainstream, a wave of retrospective verification of the reality of the problem hit, and opinions started to fly in the media. "They streamed the National University Track and Field Championships live, right?" said one athlete who had competed in the meet. "There was a lot of obscene s...

On the final day of the International Olympic Committee coordination commission meeting in Tokyo, top-level talks between the IOC, Tokyo Olympic Games Organizing Committee, Japan Olympic Committee, Tokyo Metropolitan Government and Japanese National Government on the IOC's plan to move the 2020 Tokyo Olympics marathons and race walks to Sapporo convened at noon. IOC coordination commission chairperson John Coates decreed, "Regarding the marathons and race walk events, it is the IOC that has the authority to determine whether an event venue will be changed. Taking into consideration the expenses already incurred by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and local organizing committee, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government will not be asked to pay for any additional expenses. There will be no further venue changes." Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike replied somewhat antagonistically, "Am I allowed to speak on this, sir, or am I only allowed to say yes or no?" Coates elev...

http://southafrica2010.nikkansports.com/news/p-sc-tp2-20100613-640972.html translated by Brett Larner The former star of Japanese marathoning and now director of sports for Team S&B Toshihiko Seko , 53, is in South Africa to cheer for his former classmate at Waseda University, Japanese national soccer team head coach Takeshi Okada , in Japan's June 14 World Cup game versus Cameroon. Seko and Los Angeles Olympics judo gold medalist Yasuhiro Yamashita recently held a send-off party for Okada prior to the team's departure. "Okada's a very straightforward, serious guy," said Seko in support of his old friend. "He's the kind of guy who sticks to what he believes and doesn't care what people say about him. I want him to be himself out there. I think they can win. I want them to make it a good game. If it doesn't go well I want him to repay their airfare."