Yoshimi Ozaki

Yoshimi Ozaki

Yoshimi Ozaki in the Marathon at the 2012 Olympics in London
Personal information
Born (1981-07-01) July 1, 1981
Height 1.55 m (5 ft 1 in)
Weight 41 kg (90 lb)
Sport
Country  Japan
Sport Athletics
Event(s) Marathon
Medal record
World Championships
2009 Berlin Marathon

Yoshimi Ozaki (Japanese: 尾崎　好美 ; born July 1, 1981) is a Japanese long-distance runner, who specializes in the marathon. She won the 2008 Tokyo Women's Marathon in a personal best time of 2:23:30 hours. A year later she took the silver medal in the event at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics.

Ozaki has won international team medals with Japan at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships and the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships. She represented Japan in the marathon at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She is coached by former world marathon medallist Sachiko Yamashita.

Career

Born in Kanagawa Prefecture, she made her senior international debut at the 2006 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and although she finished in 19th place, this was enough to help Japan to the women's team bronze medal.[1] She struck team bronze the following year, this time in the 2007 IAAF World Road Running Championships where she finished 13th overall and ran a half marathon personal best of 1:09:26 hours.

Ozaki opened the 2008 season at the Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon and she came close to her personal best (1:09:30) to take second place behind Philes Ongori.[2] She made her marathon debut that year at the Nagoya International Women's Marathon and she came close to victory, but her time of 2:26:19 was only enough for second place behind Yurika Nakamura (another athlete making her debut over the distance).[3] Her first win came in only her second outing over the distance as she won the 2008 Tokyo International Women's Marathon in a personal record time of 2:23:30.[4]

She qualified herself for the 2009 World Championships in Berlin and she came in second in a time of 2:25:25, only ten seconds behind Chinese winner Bai Xue.[5] Competing at the 2010 All Japan Corporate Team Half Marathon Championships, she took second place behind defending champion Filomena Cheyech, although her performance as the top finishing Japanese athlete earned her a place on the 2010 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships squad.[6] She finished ninth at the championships in Nanning, a placing which led the Japanese women to the team bronze medal.[7]

She ran at the Yokohama Women's Marathon in February 2011 and broke the course record with a time of 2:23:56, gaining herself a place in the Japanese World Championship squad in the process.[8] However, at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics in Daegu she did not produce the same form and finished 18th with a time of 2:32:31 hours.[9] She returned to the Yokohama women's race in November but was defeated by the less well-known Ryoko Kizaki in the final stretch.[10] She secured a place on the Olympic team with a strong performance of 2:24:14 hours at the Nagoya Marathon, where she was the first Japanese and runner-up behind Albina Mayorova.[11] She placed 19th at the 2012 Olympic marathon.[12]

The 2013 Tokyo Marathon saw Ozaki finish as the top Japanese in fifth place.[13]

Achievements

Year Competition Venue Position Notes
Representing  Japan
2008 Tokyo Marathon Tokyo, Japan 1st 2:23:30
2009 World Championships Berlin, Germany 2nd 2:25:25
2010 World Half Marathon Championships Nanning, China 9th 1:11:02
2011 World Championships Daegu, Korea 18th 2:32:31

Personal bests

Event Time (h:m:s) Competition Venue Date
5000 m (track) 15:28.55 Tottori, Japan 6 June 2004
10,000 m (track) 31:47.23 Kobe, Japan 24 April 2005
Half marathon (road) 1:09:26 World Road Running Championships Udine, Italy 14 October 2007
Marathon (road) 2:23:30 Tokyo Marathon Tokyo, Japan 16 November 2008

References

  1. ↑ Yoshimi Ozaki (Japanese). Japanese Association of Athletics Federations. Retrieved on 2011-11-20.
  2. ↑ Nakamura, Ken & Onishi, Akihiro (2008-02-03). Philes blasts to 1:07:57, as Kenyans dominate at Marugame Half Marathon. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-03-23.
  3. ↑ Nakamura, Ken & Onishi, Akihiro (2008-03-11). Yurika Nakamura, marathon debutante, wins Nagoya Women’s Marathon. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-03-23.
  4. ↑ Nakamura, Ken (2008-11-16). With late race charge, Ozaki triumphs at Tokyo Women’s Marathon. IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-01-11.
  5. ↑ Butcher, Pat (2009-08-23). Berlin 2009 - Day 9 SUMMARY - 23 Aug Archived December 19, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-03-23.
  6. ↑ Nakamura, Ken & Onishi, Akihiro (2010-04-21). Ndungu and Cheyech win All Japan Corporate team Half Marathon titles. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-03-23.
  7. ↑ Official Team Results Half Marathon - Women Archived June 29, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.. IAAF (2010). Retrieved on 2011-02-20.
  8. ↑ Nakamura, Ken (2011-02-20). Ozaki takes Yokohama victory in 2:23:56. IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-02-20.
  9. ↑ Marathon - W Final Archived September 14, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.. IAAF (2011-08-27). Retrieved on 2011-11-20.
  10. ↑ Nakamura, Ken (2011-11-20). Kizaki out duels Ozaki in Yokohama. IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-11-20.
  11. ↑ Nakamura, Ken (2012-03-11). Mayorova steals the show in Nagoya, third time a charm for Ozaki - Report. IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-03-20.
  12. ↑ Women's Marathon. London 2012. Retrieved on 2013-03-09.
  13. ↑ Nakamura, Ken (2013-02-24). Kimetto clocks course record 2:06:50 at Tokyo Marathon. IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-03-09.
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