I can't swallow what I've done yet: Takahashi

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Sydney: Naoko Takahashi carefully studied the Sydney marathon course months before the race and her preparations paid off when she became the first Japanese woman to earn Olympic gold in athletics.

"I can't swallow what I've done yet," said Takahashi, 28, after winning the marathon on Sunday in an Olympic and course record time of two hours, 23 minutes and 14 seconds.

Takahashi, the 1998 Asian Games winner, and teammate Ari Ichihashi took the lead at 18 km, followed by world bronze medallist Lidia Simon of Romania, who finished in second place.

Kenya's Joyce Chepchumba eventually overtook Ichihashi and others to take the bronze.

After Takahashi had studied the Sydney course earlier this year and identified the tough points, she and her coach Yoshio Koide mapped out a strategy.

"He told me if I have strength at 17 kilo metres to just run my own race from there," said Takahashi, who determined her next strategic move would be after the 33rd kilo metre.

"Around 33-35 kilo metres, that's all ups and downs and I wanted to make spurts," said Takahashi. "I used that to control the pace. I was waiting for the chance to do so."

She made her break after 35 kms on the Anzac bridge and knew she wouldn't struggle with the undulation.

"I enjoy that challenge," she said. "It was a very hilly, hard course but I had trained on an even harder course so I didn't really find it too hard."

Altitude training

Takahashi had trained at altitude on hills in Boulder, Colorado in the United States since May."The practice runs were tougher than the real race, and today at 35 kilo metres I was breathing quite normally, so I think I was able to enjoy the fruits of that practice," she said.

Simon, who had also viewed the course earlier this year, said: "At 35 kilo metres, when she went ahead, she was a lot stronger and that's what counted. Takahashi was better on the down hills."

Another star in the field, world record holder Tegla Loroupe of Kenya, was sick at the beginning of the race and finished 13th.

"I wasn't going to win," said Loroupe, who will run the 10,000 metres later this week. "But I just don't like to stop."

Takahashi's familiarity with the course and preparation had actually led the Japanese national record-holder, who ran 2:21:47 in steamy Bangkok weather in 1998 and 2:22:19 in Nagoya, Japan this year, to expect an even better time than the Olympic record she clocked.

"I thought I could run 2:21," she said. "I was, of course, aiming for this victory."

Takahashi gave much of the credit for her win to the close work and planning with her coach, whom she called her hero. "I have a fantastic coach. This gold medal was not only achieved by me," she said, praising both Koide and his staff.

"All their efforts bore the fruit of a gold medal. I just performed the role of an athlete."

On the morning of the Olympic race, Takahashi attached two lucky charms to her outfit - a traditional ornament from a Shinto church in her neighbourhood in the Japanese city of Gifu and a turtle, both gifts from friends.



(c) Reuters Limited.