Hosts Japan struggle at worlds

By John Bagratuni Aug 29, 2007, 6:45 GMT

Osaka, Japan - Japan woke up to the grim reality Wednesday that it is quickly running out of medal contenders as it hosts the world athletics championships.

'Just when it seemed the Japanese catastrophe in Kansai couldn't get much worse, along plodded Shingo Suetsugo,' the English-language Yomiuri newspaper said, referring to the district of Osaka where the competition is being held.

The daily noted that the home team has been outperformed and has underperformed at the nine-day championships, at which Japan now risks the fate of Sweden (Gothenburg 1995) and Canada (Edmonton 2001) of getting no medal at all.

Suetsugo won the 200-metre bronze in 2003 but went out in last place in his second-round race at Osaka, clocking a poor 20.9 seconds, compared with the 20.2 he ran on the same track earlier in the year.

The sprinter was the last of only a handful of medal contenders from a big team of 81 to flop.

Maybe things would have gone differently had Tsuyoshi Ogata managed to hold on to bronze in the marathon instead of fading to fifth on the opening day Saturday.

'I wanted a medal today,' the disappointed Ogata said.

The agony grew later that day when Dai Tamesue, a two-time world bronze medallist, crashed out in the first round of the 400m hurdles.

Then, on a day dubbed 'Black Monday,' Olympic hammer throw champion Koji Murofushi also failed to deliver.

After cutting back on training because he was writing his doctoral thesis on the biomechanics in his discipline, the icon had to settle for sixth place.

'Sure, a medal would have been better,' he said. 'I am proud of what I've done here. I did my best.'

The below-par showings are also a reason for concern for the ruling body IAAF because medals for host teams usually boost ticket sales, which have been slow in Osaka.

'Unfortunately, gold for the host team is the best promotion,' IAAF competition director Paul Hardy said.

Now there is just one more realistic chance left for Japan, which will only affect national pride rather than event PR, in the women's marathon on the closing day, Sunday, in which 2001 silver medallist Raiko Tosa is competing.