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Naoko Takahashi made a rapid and spectacular impact on the international
marathon scene from the time she finished 7th in her debut at the
distance in the 1997 Osaka marathon. The following year she set a
national record of 2hr 25min 48sec when she won the Japanese national
marathon title at Nagoya on 8 March. This run however, was a mere
prelude to her performance at the Asian Games in Bangkok on 6 December.
Despite high temperatures and 90% humidity, Takahashi soon left the
field behind as she sped through the halfway mark in 1hr 09min 15sec,
and slowed only marginally, before finishing in a time of 2hr 21min
47sec, the fifth fastest marathon of all time, and the fastest ever in a
women's only marathon. As a warm-up for the Olympic Games held later
that year in Sydney, Takahashi ran a superb time of 2hr 22min 19sec at
Nagoya on 12 March 2000.
At Sydney, on 24 September, Takahashi set the
pace for most of the second half of the race, gradually dropping her
rivals, before entering the stadium with a comfortable lead (see photo above)
to win the gold medal in 2hr 23min 14sec. Takahashi's Olympic victory
made her a cult hero in marathon-obsessed Japan, and in early 2001 she
became the subject of a comic strip called 'kazekko' or 'daughter of the
wind'. Takahashi's next marathon was at Berlin on 30 September 2001,
where she set her sights on running the fastest time in history. A
minor problem arose when the edition of kazekko; published three days
before the race, showed Naoko passing through the Brandenburg Gate and
winning in a world's best time. In the race, Takahashi turned fiction
into reality, leading all the way to win in a new world's best time of
2hr 19min 46sec, breaking the previous best time by 57 seconds. (Ron
Casey)
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