Skip to main content

Kinukawa`s Olympic Plans Destroyed by Terrifying Mystery Virus of Possible Chinese Origin

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/news/20080606-OHT1T00047.htm
http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/news/20080606-OHT1T00077.htm

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Osaka World Track and Field Championships competitor and Great Hope for the future of Japanese women`s long distance running Megumi Kinukawa (18, Team Mizuno) announced on June 5 that she has contracted an unknown virus which will keep her out of the Olympic Trials at the National Track and Field Championships, to be held June 26-29 in Kawasaki. Medical staff have indicated that the chance is high Kinukawa caught the virus while training in Kunming, China. Whether it came from the pollution, contaminated food or another source, the "invisible enemy" has deprived the young star of her Olympic chance and shaken the Japanese long distance world.

Kinukawa`s situation has made a deep impact upon her. "I wouldn`t want anyone else to go through what I`m experiencing," she said of the serious viral infection which has possessed her like a devil just before the Olympics. "I only want other athletes to know that there is a sickness like this out there."

Her problems began last November when Kinukawa began to have persistent flu-like symptoms and aches and pains all over her body. In December she suffered a stress fracture in her right femur which kept her out of the National High School Ekiden in Kyoto. In February she began to feel similar pain in her left leg, then strong pain in her left knee which made it difficult for her to even walk.

Kinukawa was forced to cancel her professional debut at April`s Oda Memorial meet in Hiroshima, followed by a string of further cancellations. Her coach at Sendai Ikuei High School and mentor since graduating, Takao Watanabe felt, "All these injuries could not be coming from her training," and believed that she would be able to recover. Extensive medical testing revealed no skeletal problems. A subsequent battery of blood testing discovered the presence of the presence of the unnamed virus. Previous testing at the same clinic had failed to find any problems with Kinukawa`s blood, but the clinic`s head Dr. Matsumoto indicated that new tests revealed the virus had seriously affected red blood cell production and was likewise damaging to white blood cells, leading to the array of bone and muscle problems Kinukawa has experienced.

Dr. Matsumoto stated that the virus was unlikely to have originated in Japan and that Kinukawa had become infected in another country. Her only overseas experience came when Kinukawa went to Kunming in March last year for high altitude training. "The probability that she was infected in Kunming is high," commented Dr. Matsumoto. Kunming is the same location where Beijing Olympic women`s marathon team member Mizuki Noguchi (Team Sysmex) and others regularly attend training camps. Noguchi contracted a serious rash which kept her from several races after training in Kunming in March. Noguchi`s fellow Olympic marathon team member Reiko Tosa (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) is scheduled to head to Kunming for training on June 12. Tosa`s coach Hideo Suzuki said she had no plans to alter her training, adding, "I`ve never heard any talk of such problems [in Kunming]." Nevertheless, the Japanese distance running community remains shaken.

Kinukawa remains highly optmistic about making a full comeback despite only being to jog for 30 minutes at a time in her present condition. Looking at the fast-approaching Olympic Trials, Kinukawa says, "I won`t give up until it`s over." Coach Watanabe is, however, less positive. "She is not ready. Our top priority is to get her one day closer to being able to run normally again."

Kinukawa made the 10000 m Olympic A-standard of 31:45.00 last summer, but to be selected for the Olympic team she must perform in the National Track and Field Championships. Struck down by an "invisible enemy" at only age 18, the deadline for Kinukawa to face the track world is drawing nearer.


Megumi Kinukawa
18, Team Mizuno. Born Aug. 7, 1989 in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture. 153 cm, 38 kg. Attended Sendai Ikuei High School. 3rd place in National H.S. 5000 m as a first-year. Passed 12 runners on the 2nd stage of the National H.S. Ekiden. Set the women`s 10000 m Japanese junior record of 31:35.27 at last year`s Hyogo Relay Carnival. 14th in last summer`s World Championships 10000 m.

Kunming
China`s center for high-altitude training. Population 5,000,000. Situated at 1900 m altitude, temperatures are moderate year-round. With extensive training facilities and only one hour time difference from Japan, it is the most popular location for Japanese athletes to conduct high-altitude training.

The Beijing Olympics Women`s 10000 m Team
1-3 Japanese women will compete. Any woman who has met the Olympic A-standard (31:45.00) since Jan., 2007 is elligible, but to be guaranteed a spot on the team a qualified athlete must win June`s National Track and Field Championships. A good placing will also elevate a runner`s chances. 7 women have met the A-standard, including Kinukawa, Yoko Shibui (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo), Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) and Akane Wakita (Team Toyota Jidoshokki). Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) has not yet met the Olympic B-standard (32:20.00) but is expected to make the Trials.

Comments

Rob Cunningham said…
Brent,

if you know where I might be able to get race footage from the Nobeoka meet, the men's 800m in particular, please send me the link. We are trying to analyze or guy's race, but the cell phone video isn't very good!

Thanks,

Rob

robcunningham71@hotmail.com
Brett Larner said…
Rob--

I haven`t seen any video from Nobeoka online. I`ll let you know if I come across anything.

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