Japan claims historic bronze in men's 4x100-meter relay

Saturday 23rd August, 06:19 AM JST

BEIJING —

Japan won the bronze medal in the men’s 4x100-meter relay at the Beijing Games on Friday, achieving the country’s best-ever Olympic result in men’s sprint competition and its first medal in 80 years in a track event. Naoki Tsukahara, Shingo Suetsugu, Shinji Takahira and Nobuharu Asahara clocked a season best time of 38.15 seconds to finish behind Jamaica, which cruised to the gold in a new world record of 37.10, and Trinidad and Tobago, 0.96 second behind the winners at National Stadium.

‘‘I just wanted to run in front of the 90,000 spectators at this stadium,’’ said 36-year-old anchor Asahara. ‘‘I didn’t know if my body would hold up but I also believed in myself. I want to say thank you to all of my teammates. This is the result of our hard work. We united for this challenge. I feel that we have finally seen the fruit of all the hard work of the Japanese runners that came before us. It is a victory for Japanese sprinters. It was like a dream.’’

Jamaica’s winning team featured Usain Bolt in the third leg who won his third gold medal in Beijing after triumphing in the men’s 100 and 200 and setting world records in all three events. His three titles matched the feat accomplished by American Carl Lewis at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. In Thursday’s qualification round, powerhouse teams such as defending champion Britain, last year’s world champion the United States and Nigeria failed to advance to the final due to problems with passing the baton.

Kyodo

Latest 15 of 29 Total Comments Show All

Crucifier99 at 01:27 PM JST - 23rd August

Stanoue:

Crucifier- the whole point of difference in the relay race is the baton. If 3 countries dropped it, then they screwed up and suck- regardless of how fast 4 individual runners might be, it doesn't matter if they can't grasp the main part of the relay - balancing a fast run speed with the precision and timing of a baton pass You didn't seem to grasp what I meant, Suetsgu attributed the winning of the bronze to hard work through the years which the world knows is not the case, they won it because the crop of the cream didn't take part. and not because of hard work. Oh I see, the U.S.,Nigeria,England have not been working hard. They have to be commended for taking their luck.
hoserfella at 01:47 PM JST - 23rd August

movieguy - how in the heck could the Japanese have performed better than the Jamaican team when the Jamaicans set a new world record and beat the nearest competitors by a country mile?? You're really grasping at straws here. Just the same, it's great to see humble, hard-working Japanese athletes like these guys do well. Unlike the hyper-hyped "Hoshino Japan", they didn't even register on the Japanese media radar.
movieguy at 02:04 PM JST - 23rd August

Hoserfella... I mentioned "in some respects." Everyone expected the Jamaicans to win easily and crush the world record and they did. I just think when people perform better than expected that "in some respects" they perform even better than the people that do what's expected of them.

No one expected Japan to even make the finals and had those countries that failed to make the finals practiced the fundamentals of this event more (as Japan did) Japan probably wouldn't have even made the finals of the 4x100...
Pukey2 at 02:27 PM JST - 23rd August

Damn, I'm torn between belittling the Jp men's achievement due to the bumbling/blunder/scr*w up of the Americans and Nigerians, and laughing at the Americans for failing to reach the end. I think I'll choose the latter, just to spite Boobug (someone who has done nothing since the start of the Olympics but belittle every non-US team).

You've got to give it Asahara, a relatively oldie, but still at the top of Jp athletics.
boobug at 06:25 PM JST - 23rd August

"Boobug (someone who has done nothing since the start of the Olympics but belittle every non-US team)."

Not so, I have heaped praise on the Korean mens baseball team, the German womens soccer team, and the Nigerian mens soccer team to just name a few. So how about you pukey2 ? Got anything positive to say about the winningest nation at these here Olympics. Or as usual, more rubbish like this.

"laughing at the Americans for failing to reach the end."

I mean you do realize it wasn't only the Americans that "failed to reach the end" ? There were 6 nations that opened the door to allow Japan a place in the finals. The USA, Nigeria, South Africa, and Poland did not finish. Italy and Great Britain were both disqualified ! Funny that with all those facts out there the only nation you choose to rip on is the USA, who btw is currently sitting on 103 medals ! Fantastic isnt it !
ExPrinceska at 06:29 PM JST - 23rd August

Congratulations to Japan's team. This is a really amazing achievement, one that has to be applauded!
flammenwerfer at 07:48 PM JST - 23rd August

I just saw this on NHK news 7 - about 4-5 mins dedicated to this and apparently only one team was in the race! no mention of the world record performance of the winning Jamaicans-, no mention who was 2nd or 4th, it was totally Japan-centric. We done Japan' awesome effort but come on! Also no mention that Japan cashed in on the "weakened" field. That news article could seriously pass for propaganda...
TheCode at 11:37 PM JST - 23rd August

But let's face it, track and field relays are won on three things: speed, technique, and discipline. The U.S. runners may have the speed, and a bit of the technique, but are surely lacking in the discipline. According to USA Track and Field president Doug Logan, "Dropping a baton isn't bad luck it's bad execution. Responsibility for the relay debacle lies with many people and many groups, from administration to coaches to athletes.

You want to win a race without the teamwork? Enter the individual 100 m. event. The relay? To win, you gotta show some teamwork and discipline. Good job to the Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Japan for doing just that! Boo on the U.S., Nigeria, Poland, and South Africa for not.
imgold at 04:45 PM JST - 24th August

For Thecode,

"To win, you gotta show some teamwork and discipline." "Boo on the U.S."

But didn't the American men just win the 4x400 relay ? So how about a yay for that ? A "boo" for team USA ? Hard lines mate, hard lines !
TheCode at 05:54 PM JST - 24th August

For imgold:

But didn't the American men just win the 4x400 relay ? So how about a yay for that ? A "boo" for team USA ? Hard lines mate, hard lines !

Please read the headline again. It says: "4x100 relay". As far as I remember, the American men and women both flopped in their relays.
imgold at 11:37 PM JST - 24th August

"As far as I remember, the American men and women both flopped in their relays."

So what, crap happens eh ?

"The U.S. runners may have the speed, and a bit of the technique, but are surely lacking in the discipline."

These comments don't address the fact that the USA went right out and redeemed themselves and all your negative comments to boot. Sports reflect life "thecode". Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains. Kneejerk comments like yours fail to fully comprehend the obvious, the sun will rise tomorrow and the US will still be leading the medals count !
LSteven at 05:55 PM JST - 25th August

For imgold:

But didn't the American men just win the 4x400 relay ? So how about a yay for that ? A "boo" for team USA ? Hard lines mate, hard lines !

Please read the headline again. It says: "4x100 relay". As far as I remember, the American men and women both flopped in their relays.
LSteven at 05:57 PM JST - 25th August

I was watching the news in the lead up to the preliminary heats of the 4x100 and the runners were making light of the fact that they "only" practiced the hand off of the baton. If you know anything about this race that is the key to event.

If you watch the race again from a wide angle you'll see how smooth and precise the Japanese team was in handing off the baton.

When I talk to people about sports in Japan I always say that I can't imagine a country that is better at teaching the fundamentals of sports. The problem is that once the "kids" get to an age here where they need to be allowed to experiment with their talents they are not allowed and even when those fundamental skills get athletes to a higher level they tend to choke once they're in the spotlight.

This was a true team effort for the Japanese team and in some respects I think they performed even better than the Jamaican team.
LSteven at 06:05 PM JST - 25th August

Sorry to the two posters before which I've copied and pasted from (thecode, and movieguy), I wanted to say that I agree with both of your comments, but my stupid finger accidentally hit return, twice. Sorry.

I was watching the news in the lead up to the preliminary heats of the 4x100 and the runners were making light of the fact that they "only" practiced the hand off of the baton. If you know anything about this race that is the key to event.

That's right. The passing of the baton is key to winning the relay race.

"For imgold:

But didn't the American men just win the 4x400 relay ? So how about a yay for that ? A "boo" for team USA ? Hard lines mate, hard lines !

Please read the headline again. It says: "4x100 relay". As far as I remember, the American men and women both flopped in their relays."

It doesn't make sense for another poster to go off topic and start talking about another relay to justify the art of passing off the baton.

Sorry again. It seems the quote function on this can't quote something that has already been quoted.
imgold at 11:03 PM JST - 25th August

LSteven, my retort was in response to this broad sweeping negative comment,

"The U.S. runners may have the speed, and a bit of the technique, but are surely lacking in the discipline."

If these comments were confined to the US 4x100 team, fine. However, they were not ! I was merely pointing out the US success in the relays as evidence that "US runners" have not only speed and little technique but also a lot of discipline. That's why they are US Olympians, part of the largest overall medal winning team at the Beijing Olympics !