NIIYA Hitomi

Japan

Athletics

Date of Birth: 26 Feb 1988

Age: 33

Gender: Female

Place of residence : TOKYO

Residence Country:

Japan

Events and Medals
Records
Schedule
Bio
General Interest
Milestones

Events and Medals

Discipline	Event	Rank	Medal
Athletics	Women's 10,000m	21

Schedule

Change

Start Time	Location	Event	Status
	Olympic Stadium - Track	Women's 10,000m Final	Finished

Biographical Information

Highlights

Athlete:

Olympic Games

Year	Location	5000m	10,000m
2012	London, GBR	1R (15:10.20)	9th (30:59.19)

World Athletics Championships

Year	Location	5000m	10,000m
2019	Doha, QAT	-	11th (31:12.99)
2013	Moscow, RUS	-	5th (30:56.70)
2011	Daegu, KOR	13th (15:41.67)	-

Asian Championships

Year	Location	10,000m
2019	Doha, QAT	2nd (31:22.63)

World Athletics Continental Tour - Ten best performances since 2020

Rank	Year	Event	Competition	Location	Result
5	2021	5000m	World Athletics Continental Tour	Tokyo, JPN	15:18.21

Legend
SF - Semifinal, QF - Quarterfinal, 1R - 1st Round, Qual. - Qualification, QR - Qualification Round, DNF - Did Not Finish, DNS - Did Not Start, DQ - Disqualified, NM - No Mark, [Relay athlete without time] - Did not run in final

Nickname:

NIiyan (toyota-shokki.co.jp, 28 Oct 2007)

Occupation:

Athlete

Languages spoken:

English, Japanese

Club name:

Sekisui Chemical [Japan]

Coach:

Hidenori Noguchi [club], JPN; Masato Yokota [personal], JPN, from 2020

Injuries:

She suffered from plantar fasciitis in her right foot, which resulted in her taking a four-year break from the sport. The injury causes inflammation of the plantar fascia, a part of the foot which connects the heel bone to the toes. (2020.yahoo.co.jp, 11 May 2020)

She broke her public bone in 2017. (2020.yahoo.co.jp, 11 May 2020)

Start:

She began the sport in middle school. (tbs.co.jp, 18 Jul 2013)

Reason:

She was encouraged by her brother, and was also inspired by Japanese long-distance runner Naoko Takahashi. (universal-777.com, 06 Jun 2012; 2020.yahoo.co.jp, 11 May 2020; tbs.co.jp, 18 Jul 2013)

Ambition:

To win a medal at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. (2020.yahoo.co.jp, 11 May 2020)

Philosophy:

"As a professional runner, I have to take responsibility to achieve good results. I think that it is meaningless that I say things like 'I did my best' and 'I worked hard'. I have to become the one who is told these words by others through my performance." (fukushima-tv.co.jp, 04 Nov 2019)

"To be honest, I run for a living. We all have to do work to live. In that sense, running is my calling." (2020.yahoo.co.jp, 11 May 2020)

General Interest

General
RETIREMENT AND RETURN
She announced her retirement from athletics in January 2014 before returning to the sport in 2018. "The first reason for my retirement was the plantar fasciitis in my right heel did not completely heal. A doctor told me it may not heal even in I had surgery, and even if I got completely cured I would be unable to run for a year if I include rehabilitation. Running is my job and the loss of product value for a year also affected my motivation. I only think I am a professional athlete after running and producing results, so I didn't want to take a break for whatever reason. Furthermore, I was 25 at the time, so I was wondering if I could move on to the next thing. I didn't know the world other than running, so I was interested to see what it was like. I didn't train at all for three-and-a-half years while I was working in the office, but I was able to get a contract [on her return] based on my past achievements. Unlike Excel and PowerPoint, which I am not very good at, I know how to run. I thought it would be easier to return to Japan's top-level running rather than making presentation materials at the office." (jiji.com, 16 May 2020; 2020.yahoo.co.jp, 11 May 2020)

Social Media

Legend

:: Gold Medal Event
:: Silver Medal Event
:: Bronze Medal Event

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