Interview with Reiko Tosa

By Gordon Bakoulis

Reiko Tosa will compete in the women’s marathon at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on August 17. The 31-year-old Japanese marathoner became a national heroine last summer at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Osaka, when, on the meet’s final day, she valiantly fought her way from fourth to third place in the race’s final stages to claim Japan’s only medal of the championships.

A marathon specialist, Tosa has never finished lower than fifth place in her 10 career marathons. She was the silver medalist at the 2001 World Championships Marathon in Edmonton, and she placed fifth in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games women’s marathon. Other highlights of her career include victories at the 2004 Nagoya Marathon and the 2006 Tokyo Marathon, and a third-place finish at the 2006 Boston Marathon. She set her PR of 2:22:46 at the 2002 Flora London Marathon. Tosa runs for the Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo team and is coached by her husband, Keiichi Murai.

Tosa has spent the past month training at the mile-high elevation of Boulder, CO, laying the base for her 12-week Olympic buildup. On June 1, in New York City, she set out on what was billed as a four-mile “easy” run with her training partner Chisato Osaki at the Japan Run in Central Park. However, instead of the planned eight-minute-per-mile pace, Tosa crossed the line in 24:44, with Osaki just one tick back. That’s 6:11 pace—good enough to place the duo 1-2 in the women’s field!

Tosa was mobbed by Japanese media after her run. She had suffered health problems following the World Championships last year, and she has not competed in any major races; the press was eager to hear news of her preparations and aspirations for Beijing. Following the media frenzy, New York Road Runners conducted a brief interview. Though Tosa’s comprehension of English is excellent, she spoke through a translator.

New York Road Runners: Congratulations on your win today. Did you expect to win the Japan Run?
Reiko Tosa: Thank you. No, I did not expect to win! We are a little bit surprised. But we have been training in Boulder, so it feels easy running here. We are happy—it was fun.

NYRR: Can you talk a bit about your training?
RT: We have been training hard. I do not know the mileage. My coach makes all the decisions about training and I just do what he tells us to do.

NYRR: Where will you prepare for the Olympics?
RT: We will fly to Japan for three weeks. Then we will go to Kunming, China, for two weeks of altitude training, then back to Japan again—I do not know the exact schedule, but we will go to China for the final preparation two weeks before the marathon.

NYRR: Will you do any races as part of your preparation?
RT: No, no more races. This is our final race until the Olympic marathon.

NYRR: What is your goal in Beijing on August 17?
RT [in English]: The medal—the top one.

Interview conducted June 1, 2008, and posted June 2, 2008.