
Takada, coach Omori make leap for Paralympic dream
It is less than six months until the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, set to start on Aug. 25, and the people who form partnerships to support impaired athletes are extremely important and just as deserving of being awarded medals as the competitors.

They are a necessity for these athletes.
"One, two, three, four, go!"
That's the sound Chiaki Takada relies on in her approach run before she takes off in the long jump. Takada is a provisional member of Japan's Paralympic team for the visually impaired T11 (the highest level of blindness) classification.
Giving her verbal instructions is Shigekazu Omori, 47, a former Olympian in sprint events who serves as her "caller" by shouting out her takeoff point.
The two formed a duo more than 13 years ago.
"Omori is someone I need not only for competitions, he's essential -- he's my other half," said the 35-year-old athlete.
When visually impaired runners go at full speed, they have difficulty going straight ahead.
Omori positions himself right in front of the landing pit and uses voice and claps to guide Takada. As she approaches, he darts out of the way. The timing is produced through long years of training together.
"The level of trust is completely different," Takada said.
Omori isn't just with Takada at practice, he regularly picks her up and drops her off, acting as her eyes.
Duo shoots for 5-meter jump
During the offseason in mid-February, the two used the time to get Takada's body to move in the proper way leading up to the takeoff.
When she only used a five-step runup to her jump, Omori pointed out a tendency for Takada to turn outward, trying to implore the athlete to work on jumping straight ahead to make use of all the momentum, focusing it in the direction of her takeoff.
The gold-medal winner at the Rio de Janeiro Paralympics recorded a 4.98-meter jump. Takada went 4.45 meters to finish in eighth place. She has pushed her own national record to 4.69 meters.
"It's a matter of making small adjustments, putting all of them together and seeing just how far she goes," Omori said.
"The goal is 5 meters," he said, stating the duo's lofty ambition.
Former Olympian as coach
Omori is a two-time Olympic sprinter who ran for Japan at the 1992 Games in Barcelona and the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.
At the Atlanta Games, he was the anchor for the 4x4 1,600-meter relay team, helping Japan to fifth place, its highest finish in 64 years.
Omori and Takada met in 2006 when she joined the same athletics club at which he was a member. Omori was only a sprint coach at the beginning, but gave long jump a shot. Since 2013, he has been her "caller" and taken on the role of guide in sprints, meaning he is supporting her by doing the job of three.
"We not only get along well, in terms of running, we both totally come from the same place," said Takada, showing confidence in their trust in one another.
Omori works for a producer of industrial machinery, and is relatively in control of his work hours. That allows him the freedom to be there for Takada for training and at meets.
Takada's firm takes care of his travel expenses, but his efforts are virtually those of a volunteer.
"The people around me don't understand it," Omori said with a wry smile.
What's touching is the fact that Omori's passion for athletics has not changed a bit over many years. When he was set to retire from competition, he thought he'd make the National Sports Festival in his home prefecture of Toyama his final race. But Omori lost out in the preliminaries and never made the event.
"I didn't get everything out when my career ended," admitted Omori, who went from jobs that included being a cast member at Tokyo Disneyland and working in the transport industry.
But fate brought him back into the sport as a coach by him meeting Takada.
"You're going to be competing when the Tokyo Games come, right?" Omori asked Takada when Tokyo was chosen to hold the Paralympics in 2013, even though she only had her mind on Rio 2016 at that time.
As a guide for Takada, who also wants to run the 100 meters, Omori's dream is to run at top speed at the new National Stadium.
"I want to run at the Tokyo Games and [Takada] is a person who can make that happen."
CAPTION:
Chiaki Takada flies through the air during the long jump after coach Shigekazu Omori gives her the verbal cue to take off at the Asian Paralympic Games in 2018.
Shigekazu Omori coaches Chiaki Takada on March 2 in Koto Ward, Tokyo.
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