is a Japanese

long-distance runner Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely Aerobic exercise, aerobic in nature and requires stamina as well as mental strength. Within endurance ru ...

, who specializes in the 5000,

10,000 metres The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship-level events. The ...

and

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

. Fukushi represented Japan at the 2004, 2008 and 2012

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

. She was the bronze medallist in the marathon at the

2013 World Championships in Athletics The 14th IAAF World Championships in Athletics (Moscow 2013; ) was an international athletics (sport), athletics competition held in Moscow, Russia, from 10 to 18 August 2013. Initially, Russia at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics, Russia ...

. She holds a marathon best of 2:22:17 hours. Fukushi won two

silver medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

s at the

2002 Asian Games The 2002 Asian Games, officially known as the XIV Asian Games and also known as Busan 2002 (), were an international multi-sport event held in Busan, South Korea from September 29 to October 14, 2002. Due to schedule impediments the football tour ...

and then won the 10,000 m

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

at the 2006 edition. She is a former

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

holder in the 15 km road race and is the Japanese record holder in the 5000 m, 10,000 m, and 10K road distance. Fukushi is also a six-time national champion over the 5000 m. In addition, she has run more sub 34 minute 10,000 m runs in competition than any other woman in the world (as of 2014 this mark stands at 44). She was chosen as the torch lighter for the

2003 Asian Winter Games The 5th Asian Winter Games (), also known as Aomori 2003 (), took place from February 1 to 8, 2003 in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. Mascot The 2003 Winter Asiad mascot is ''Winta'', a black woodpecker. Venues The venues for the 2003 Winter Asiad w ...

which was held in

Aomori Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori (city), Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is border ...

, her home region.

Career

Early career

Fukushi was fourth over 5000 m at the

2000 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2000 World Junior Championships in Athletics were held in Santiago, Chile between 17 and 22 October 2000. Results Men Women Medal table Participation According to an unofficial count through an unofficial result list, 1122 athle ...

and had a breakout year two years later. After a fifteenth-place finish in the senior section of the

2002 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 2002 IAAF World Cross Country Championships took place on March 23/24, 2002. The races were held at the Leopardstown Racecourse, Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, near Dublin, Ireland. Reports of the event were given in ''The New York Times'', ...

, she broke national junior records (over 3000 m, 5000 m and 10,000 m) and then went on to record an out-right national record of 8:44.40 minutes in the 3000 m that July. At the

she took a

double in the 5000/10,000 m, finishing behind Sun Yingjie on both occasions.

Olympic debut and Asian gold

Continuing to focus on

track running Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

, she ran at her first senior global track competition in 2003. She was eleventh in the 5000 m at the

2003 World Championships in Athletics The 9th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held from 23 August to 31 August 2003 in the streets of Paris and the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, F ...

, but had less success on her Olympic debut as she finished 26th in the 10,000 m at the 2004 Athens Games. She doubled up at the

2005 World Championships in Athletics The 10th World Championships in Athletics (, ), under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland (6 August 2005 – 14 August 2005), the site of the first ...

, coming near the top ten in both long-distance track events. On February 5, 2006 at the Kagawa Marugame Half Marathon she broke the 15-kilometre

road running Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. This differs from track and field on a regular track and cross country running over natural terrain. These events are usually classified as long-distance ru ...

record by running the distance in 46:55 minutes.

Tirunesh Dibaba Tirunesh Dibaba (, Amharic: ጥሩነሽ ዲባባ ቀነኒ; born 1 October 1985) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner athlete who competes in long-distance track events and international road races. She has won three Olympic track gold meda ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

improved the record to 46:28 minutes in 2009. During the race in Marugame she also set the Asian record in the

half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish, or shortcu ...

. She had more success on home turf soon after with a win at the Fukuoka International Cross Country. She competed at the 2006 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, also held in Fukuoka, and took sixth place in the long race – one of only two non-East African runners to make the top ten. Her finish also led the Japanese women to the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

in the team competition. She claimed a bronze on the track at the

2006 IAAF World Cup The 10th IAAF World Cup in Athletics was an international track and field sporting event, held under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, which took place on 16 and 17 September 2006 at the Olympic Stadium in At ...

, coming third over 5000 m and took the 10,000 m

at the

2006 Asian Games The 2006 Asian Games (), officially known as the XV Asiad or 15th Asian Games (, and commonly known as Doha 2006 (), were an Asian multi-sport event held in Doha, Qatar, from December 1 to 15, 2006, with 424 events in 39 sports featured in the ga ...

– her first major championship win. Despite her continental success, she failed to break through on the global scene, just finishing in (or near) the top ten at the World Championships in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

and

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, and an eleventh-place finish at

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

. She made her

debut at the 2008

Osaka Ladies Marathon The is an annual marathon road race for women over the classic distance of 42.195 kilometres which is held on the 4th or 5th Sunday of January in the city of Osaka, Japan, and hosted by Japan Association of Athletics Federations, Kansai Tel ...

and led the race up to the 30 km mark. However, her pacing collapsed soon after that point and she ended up in 19th place with a time of 2:40:54 hours, over fifteen minutes adrift of the winner. She came back to the half marathon in July 2010 and won at the Shibetsu Half Marathon, although her time of 1:12:25 was below her best. Fukushi's track form deteriorated somewhat that year – she attempted to defend her Asian title at the

2010 Asian Games The 2010 Asian Games (), officially known as the XVI Asian Games () and also known as Guangzhou 2010 (), were a regional multi-sport event held from November 12 to 27, 2010 in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China (although several events commenced ear ...

but came fourth over 10,000 m and fifth in the 5000 m. She anchored the

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

team to victory at the Inter-Prefectural Women's Ekiden in January 2011, increasing her team's lead in the final 10 km leg of the race. Her 2011 season began with a third career win at the Marugame Half Marathon. Her main competition that year was the

2011 Chicago Marathon The 2011 Chicago Marathon was the 34th edition of the annual marathon race in Chicago, Illinois which was held on Sunday, October 9. The men's race was won by Kenya's Moses Mosop in a time of 2:05:37 hours – a course record. Ejegayehu Dibaba, ...

, where she was among the leaders at the halfway point and went on to take third place in a new personal best time of 2:24:38 hours. In her first race of 2012, she was the pre-race favourite for the Osaka Ladies Marathon but finished seventh after a slow second half. Having missed out on Olympic selection for the marathon, she focused on the track instead. She was runner-up in both the 5000 m and 10,000 m at the Japanese Championships and was selected to run both events at the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. She placed tenth in the 10,000 m final, but failed to progress beyond the heats in the shorter distance.

World medal

Fukushi returned to the marathon at the start of 2013 and she was leading with two kilometres to go at the Osaka Women's Marathon. She faltered badly in the final stages, turning a 19-second lead to 23-second deficit behind Tetyana Hamera-Shmyrko. Still, her runner-up finish in 2:24:21 hours was a personal best. This gained her selection for Japan for the

marathon, where she won her first major medal over the distance – a bronze. Although she was aged 31, she was the youngest of the medallists alongside Edna Kiplagat and Valeria Straneo. Her foremost race the following season was the 2014 Berlin Marathon, but her time of 2:26:24.7 hours only brought her sixth place in the high calibre contest. She did not compete at a major tournament for a whole year, finally returning for the 2015 Chicago Marathon, where she was fourth. She aimed to make the Japanese Olympic marathon team and assured her place with a victory at the Osaka Women's Marathon. She defeated the opposition by over six minutes and set a new personal best of 2:22:17 hours, moving her into the Japanese all-time top seven women.

International competitions

National titles

Japan Championships in Athletics The is an annual outdoor track and field competition, organized by Japan Association of Athletics Federations. Currently it takes place in June or July. The competition is also for the qualifying trial for the Japanese national team of internati ...

5000 m The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a sta ...

: 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010

Marathons

*2013 Osaka Women's Marathon: 1st (2:24:21) *

: 3rd (2:24:38) * 2014 Berlin Marathon: 6th (2:26:24.7) * 2015 Chicago Marathon: 4th (2:24:25) *2016 Osaka Women's Marathon: 1st (2:22:17)

Personal bests

3000 metres The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track. It is debated whether the 3000 m sho ...

- 8:44.40 min (2000) *

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a sta ...

- 14:53.22 min (2005) *

- 30:51.81 min (2002) *

15K run The 15K run (15 kilometers, or approximately 9.32 miles) is a long-distance foot race. It is a rarely held race that is not recognized as an Olympic Games, Olympic event. The overall world best time for men was set by Jacob Kiplimo in 2025, en ro ...

- 46:55 min (2006) - former

Half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish, or shortcu ...

- 1:07:26 hrs (2006) *

Marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

- 2:22:17 (2016)

References

External links

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fukushi, Kayoko 1982 births Living people Sportspeople from Aomori Prefecture Japanese female long-distance runners Japanese female marathon runners Olympic female long-distance runners Olympic athletes for Japan Olympic female marathon runners Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Asian Games gold medalists for Japan Asian Games athletes for Japan Asian Games silver medalists for Japan Asian Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2002 Asian Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Asian Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Asian Games Medalists at the 2002 Asian Games Medalists at the 2006 Asian Games World record setters in athletics (track and field) World Athletics Championships athletes for Japan World Athletics Championships medalists Japan Championships in Athletics winners 20th-century Japanese women 21st-century Japanese sportswomen