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Olympics: Japan remains favourite as women wrestling debuts in Athens

By Channel NewsAsia's Japan Bureau Chief Michiyo Ishida 8/5/04

TOKYO : Women wrestlers will compete for the first time at the Olympic Games in Athens.

And it is the team from Japan that is a hot favourite to win medals.

Up in the mountains of Niigata Prefecture, more than 20 amateur wrestlers are in training for various competitions.

Among them are national junior champions, world champions, and those heading to Greece for the Olympics.

There are normally seven weight divisions for women's wrestling but for the Olympic Games in Athens, only four classes were approved.

For Japan, with its five world champions, the competition to win a berth has been severe.

Two-time world champion Saori Yoshida edged out four-time world champion Seiko Yamamoto to clinch the Olympic berth in the 55-kilogramme class.

Carrying Japan's hopes in the 72-kilo division is Kyoko Hamaguchi, a five-time world champion.

And last year's world champion Chiharu Icho will compete in the 48-kilo class.

She excelled in the 51-kilo weight division but it is not offered at Athens.

She is looking forward to the challenge.

Chiharu said: "I want to enjoy my matches. I have been doing this since I was a child. I like to be relaxed while displaying a fighting spirit and guts. I like this style of wrestling."

Chiharu's younger sister Kaori will join her at the Olympic Games. Kaori is a two-time world champion in the 63-kilo division.

Although Japanese wrestlers have won more than 40 gold medals at World Championships, they are not complacent about their chances in Greece.

Saori said: "I'm trying for a one-point advantage. My coach and father agree that it is likely to be a close competition but that's fine as long as I win."

To ensure they reach their peak condition before major events, the training ground in the mountains is reserved for Japan's best wrestlers.

Akira Suzuki, Head Coach of Japan Women's Wrestling Team, said: "We have mountainous roads surrounding this training facility and that helps to strenghten our legs and rears. It is a perfect training environment."

The wrestlers are fond of the gym as they look forward to winning more gold medals in Athens. - CNA

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Japanese women wrestlers ready to rumble on the Olympic mat

Wed Aug 4,10:18 PM ET

TOKYO (AFP) - Four women's world wrestling champions from Japan are ready to rumble on the Athens mats as their sport makes its Olympic debut

Japan's Kyoko Hamaguchi (top) fights Spain's Maider Unda during the final match for the 72 kilos, at the Ano Liosia Olympic Hall in Athens in January. The 26-year-old will carry the red-sun flag for the entire Japanese Olympic delegation as women wrestlers are expected to boost the country's gold-medal hunt which had been almost confined to judo in the past three Summer Olympics

For them, wrestling is a family tradition and, for their nation, it is a perennial made-for-television pastime. Japan have won 41 world titles in the past 16 annual world women's championships.

Five-time world heavyweight champion Kyoko Hamaguchi, whose father and coach Heigo was a former professional wrestler feared as "the Animal," will lead the pack to Athens.

The 26-year-old will also carry the red-sun flag for the entire Japanese delegation as women wrestlers are expected to boost the country's gold-medal hunt which had been almost confined to judo in the past three Summer Olympics (news - web sites).

"I will definitely win the gold medal," Hamaguchi declared as she rode on the shoulders of her father when she won her 72-kilogram berth at national Olympic trials last February.

"My father has taught me that something good awaits you if you keep on trying hard," said Hamaguchi, who ruled the world from 1997 to 1999 until a two-year slump before coming back to reclaim the title in the past two years.

Chiharu Icho, 22, and her sister Kaori, two years her junior, are booked in the 51kg and 63kg contests.

The sisters started dabbling in the sport when their big brother Toshiyuki joined a local children's wrestling club in Hachinohe in the rural north of Honshu Island. Chiharu was only five and Kaori was a toddler.

Saori Yoshida, whose father Hidekatsu was the 1973 national champion in the freestyle 57kg, is raring to add the 55kg Olympic title to her two consecutive world gold medals.

Yoshida, 21, beat domestic rival and another world champion Seiko Yamamoto for the Olympic ticket.

Yamamoto won in the 59kg when Japan grabbed five out of the seven titles on offer at the world championships last September.

But she had to battle it out with Yoshida because the women's Olympic competition is limited to four freestyle divisions.

The compact-sized Yoshida, 156 centimeters (5ft 2in), excels in tackles especially against long-limbed foreign wrestlers against whom she has never lost in 70 straight matches.

"People have weak points in joints such as knees and ankles. Grab the opponent's joint and immobilise it," her father once advised her.

"You need to do more than diving in. If you miss the mark by just one centimeter, it tightens up the opponent's defence."

Hamaguchi started wrestling at her father's stable for boys at the age of 13 when she gave up her ambition to become an Olympic swimmer.

Greece is a second home to her as she made her comeback to the top of the world at the championships there in 2002.

In the World Cup team event at home last November, Hamaguchi lost to Canadian Christine Nordhagen and Toccara Montgomery of the United States.

But she beat both of the rivals last January to win the pre-Olympic competition in Athens and declared Greece is a "place which never fails to upgrade me."

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Japan looking to new wave of women athletes for Olympics gold

8/5/04

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan is looking to a new wave of women athletes to help them achieve an ambitious target of more than 10 golds at the Olympics as they attempt to close the gap on regional rivals China and South Korea.

Women's wrestling makes its Olympic debut with four world champions from Japan boosting prospects for the country's gold-medal hunt, which has been all but confined to judo in the past three Summer Games.

Kyoko Hamaguchi has won the heavyweight title five times while pocket-sized 55kg champion Saori Yoshida, a formidable tackler, has not lost in her 70 straight matches against foreign opponents.

Japanese women will also figure strongly in softball, basketball, volleyball, field hockey and football in Athens, and are determined to avenge their 2-1 loss to the United States in the softball final at the 2000 Games.

In contrast, Japanese men are booked in only two team ball games, baseball and football.

"Softball has played a big role. It has inspired confidence in other women's ball games," said Japanese Olympic Committee president Tsunekazu Takeda.

Japanese women missed Sydney berths in basketball, volleyball and football and they have never competed in Olympic field hockey before.

As a result, women outnumber men for the first time in Japan's Olympic squad at 171-141. The total number of 312 athletes is the largest travelling team, compared with 355 who competed at home in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

A trio of Japanese marathon women, including two world silver medallists Mizuki Noguchi (2003) and Reiko Tosa (2001), are also planning to ambush Britain's world-record holder Paula Radcliffe.

They are determined to retain the Olympic marathon title for Japan after Sydney champion and compatriot Naoko Takahashi failed to qualify.

"We will aim for gold medals in two digits. We want to take home 24-25 medals of all kinds," Tomiaki Fukuda, general manager of the Japanese delegation said.

The last time Japan picked up more than 10 Olympic titles was at the boycott-marred 1984 Los Angeles Games when they grabbed 10 in gymnastics, wrestling, judo and shooting in the absence of the Soviets and their allies. Japan's medal total slumped from a record 32 in Los Angeles to 14 at the 1996 Atlanta Games, including three golds.

The decline was largely blamed on limited government support and the lack of a national training centre as Japan also fell from the top of Asian sport.

The total improved to 18 in Sydney, including five golds. But it paled before 59 for China and 28 for South Korea. China, due to host the 2008 Summer Games, ranked third overall behind the United States and Russia.

In Athens, Japan will pin gold medal hopes on a stable of judokas including three-time men's world light-heavyweight champion Kosei Inoue and women's six-time bantamweight champion Ryoko Tani despite a foot injury.

Men's bantamweight Tadahiro Nomura, 29, is also gearing up for an unprecedented third straight Olympic gold medal in judo.

Double world breaststroke swimming champion Kosuke Kitajima has been fired up after American Brendan Hansen smashed his 100m and 200m world records just a month ahead of their Olympic duel.

Japan's first all-professional Olympic baseball team and powerhouse Cuba may clash for gold after the defending champions of US minor leaguers were knocked out of the regional qualifying round.

Koji Murofushi, whose year-old personal record of 84.86m is the best among the world's active hammer throwers, is also expected to be in the hunt for gold.

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