Word: suetsugu
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When sprinter Shingo Suetsugu races around the track wearing his high-tech spikes and aerodynamic suit, he has another less visible secret weapon: he practices ancient techniques used by samurai and ninja to move more swiftly through the streets of Edo-era Japan. Suetsugu, 24, credits a centuries-old practice called nanba for the bronze medal he won in the 200-m race at last year's track-and-field World Championships, which made him the first East Asian since 1900 to land a medal in an international sprint competition. In Athens, the goateed native of Japan's southern Kyushu...
...However they achieve their swift pace, Suetsugu and Liu are blazing a new path for Asian speedsters. For decades?even centuries?Asians have been convinced that their genes prevented them from winning high-piston track events like the sprints or hurdles. Conventional wisdom held that the limber, compact Asian body was better designed for sports that required dexterity and precision. Hence China's dominance in gymnastics and diving, Japan's killer hold in judo or South Korea's command over archery and Taekwondo. Asians sometimes performed respectably in middle- and long-distance track competitions, but there was a tendency...
...physical impediment might, of course, be more of a psychological barrier. After all, the Chinese are perennial Olympic favorites in weight lifting, a sport that clearly depends on energy and power. And yet the notion that Asians can't sprint remains widespread?and both Liu and Suetsugu are determined to show that toughness of spirit can bridge the gap. "My physique is poor," says Liu. "But through extra-hard training, I can make up for my deficiencies." Liu credits his rise to an intensive muscle-training program designed by his coach specifically for Asian bodies...
...Suetsugu, who was beaten in the semifinals of the 200-m race at Sydney four years ago, has come a long way in honing his nanba technique. First introduced to him by coach Susumu Takano (whose 1991 Japanese record in the 400-m still stands), Suetsugu's sumo-like stance in the starting block and stunning stride have become his trademarks. Favored by ancient Japanese assassins and swordsmen for minimizing stress on the body, nanba requires practitioners to run with the hand and foot on one side of the body moving in sync. (In normal locomotion, people swing the right...
...Still, Suetsugu is deliberately ignoring whatever hopes have been raised among his 127 million countrymen. Although he has a fair chance in Athens of winning a medal in the 200-m, Suetsugu has announced that he will concentrate on the 100-m, in which just making the final will be a long shot. His goal: to join the tiny ?lite who can run the 100 in less than 10 seconds. "I don't get as excited about the 200," he shrugs. "I'm after something more valuable than a medal." Like Suetsugu, Liu Xiang is chasing a distinctly personal dream...