Yūko Arimori

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Yuko Arimori 20081108.jpg

Yūko Arimori ( Japanese 有 森 裕子 , Arimori Yūko ; born December 17, 1966 in Okayama ) is a former Japanese marathon runner who won two medals at the Olympic Games.

In 1990 she finished sixth in the Osaka Women's Marathon . With 2:32:51 h she ran the fastest debut of a Japanese woman to date. The following year she was second in the same place with the national record of 2:28:01. At the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in 1991 , she was fourth and then nominated for the 1992 Olympic Games .

She spent a year preparing under her trainer Yoshio Koide in Colorado . She covered more than 1000 km per month with training runs that totaled more than 50 km.

In Barcelona she won the silver medal in 2:32:49, just eight seconds behind the winner, Valentin Yegorova . She was then incapacitated by an ankle injury. It was not until 1995 that she reported back with a win at the Hokkaidō Marathon in 2:29:17 and was then set up by the Japanese Association for her second Olympic marathon at the 1996 Games in Atlanta, without having to compete in another marathon. Preparing again in Colorado, she won the Las Vegas Marathon Half Marathon that winter .

In Atlanta, both Egorova and Arimori, although they were more than four minutes faster than in Barcelona, ​​were beaten by Ethiopian Fatuma Roba , who won in 2:26:05. Silver went to Jegorowa (2:28:05), bronze to Arimori, who was six seconds ahead of Katrin Dörre-Heinig with 2:28:39 . With this second Olympic medal, Arimori became a national heroine and the first long-distance runner to be recognized as a full professional by the Japanese Olympic Committee.

She then bought a house in Boulder, Colorado, and in January 1998 married the dance teacher Gabriel Wilson. In 1999 she reported back with a third place in competition in the Boston Marathon . The following year, however, a ninth place in Osaka was not enough to qualify for the Olympic Games again. In the fall, she finished sixth in the Philadelphia Half Marathon and tenth in the New York City Marathon .

In 2001 she won the Gold Coast Marathon and was tenth in the Tokyo International Women's Marathon . After a break of more than five years, she officially ended her sporting career with a fifth place in the 2007 Tokyo Marathon in 2:52:45.

Yūko Arimori is 1.65 meters tall and weighs 47 kg. She graduated from Nippon Sport Science University in 1999 and joined the Recruit corporate team . In 1996 she was awarded the Kikuchi Kan Prize .

In 1998 she founded the non-profit organization Hearts of Gold, which supports aid projects in Cambodia and East Timor , and in 2002 she became the special envoy for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). In the same year she became director of the newly founded sports agency RIGHTS. In 2008 she was elected chairwoman of Special Olympics Nippon . In 2010 she was honored by the IOC with the Women and Sport Award for Asia for her services to women's sport . She is on the board of the Japanese Athletics Federation JAAF and on the women's committee of the IAAF. In her hometown of Okayama there is a museum dedicated to her.

Personal bests

  • Half marathon: 1:12:52, September 17, 2000, Philadelphia
  • Marathon: 2:26:39 h, April 19, 1999, Boston

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Peter Gambaccini: Runner With a Cause . In: Village Voice . October 31, 2000
  2. ↑ Matt Wilce: Big in Japan: Yuko Arimori . In: Metropolis. No. 367
  3. ↑ Greeting from Yuko Arimori, Representative Director ( Memento from February 28, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ^ UNFPA: UNFPA Goodwill Ambassadors: Yuko Arimori
  5. ↑ Special Olympics Nippon: 沿革 （歴 史）
  6. ^ IOC honors women on Olympic Day . June 23, 2010
  7. ^ Website of the Animo Museum ( Memento of March 6, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Arimori, Yūko
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 有 森, 裕子 (Japanese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese marathon runner
DATE OF BIRTH 17th December 1966
PLACE OF BIRTH Okayama , Japan