Nobuyuki Fujita, 79, is a prominent women's long-distance coach who has trained several top-ranked runners, including the 2004 Athens Olympic women's marathon gold medalist Mizuki Noguchi. Fujita is now training Choi Kyungsun, 27, who will represent South Korea at the 2020 Tokyo Games in the marathon.
Choi finished the Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon in 1:08:35, setting a South Korean record on Feb. 2.
"I will be happy if I'm able to be a part of the Tokyo Games," Fujita said excitedly.
Over the past few years, Fujita has regularly trained several South Korean runners at the request of his friend, who is a South Korean coach. One of the runners was Choi, who asked Fujita to train her in preparation for the Games. He readily accepted because he thought Choi had "strong willpower." Thus, from the end of last year, Fujita returned to coaching since resigning from his old club in 2011.
South Korea once boasted many Olympic medalists in the men's marathon, but that number has fallen in recent years. Initially, Fujita found it difficult to have his methods accepted by the South Koreans, who "considered it common practice to conduct high-intensity workouts only twice a month and having the number of total runs be extremely low."
In contrast, Fujita's training style is based on running consistently. This method has set Japanese records on 23 occasions for events ranging from 400 meters to marathons.
Under Fujita's tutelage, Choi has seen her own previous record be shortened by about 2-1/2 minutes at the Marugame half marathon. "Fujita's training is tiring, but I've seen improvement in myself so I put all my faith into him," Choi said emphatically.
Currently, Fujita serves as an adviser for individual South Korean athletes and travels to the country several times a month, but Fujita said, "In the future, there is a possibility that I may become a coach for the South Korean team at the Tokyo Games."
Yoshio Koide, who worked during the same period as Fujita as they left their marks in Japanese marathon history, died last year leading Fujita to reflect. "I'm turning 80 this year and it would be truly fortunate if I can get involved in the Tokyo Games," Fujita said.
We might just be able to see the imposing figure of Fujita, with his eye for talent, just prior to his 80th birthday at the Tokyo Games.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
