{"id":17168,"date":"2014-07-21T09:21:11","date_gmt":"2014-07-21T00:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/?p=17168"},"modified":"2016-10-14T09:36:28","modified_gmt":"2016-10-14T00:36:28","slug":"no-596-the-captain-of-the-track-field-club-commemorating-the-100th-anniversary-of-the-clubs-foundation-aiming-to-be-the-best-in-japan-with-the-proud-tradition-of-w","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/attention-en\/2014\/07\/21\/17168\/","title":{"rendered":"No. 596   The captain of the Track &amp; Field Club commemorating the 100th anniversary of the club\u2019s foundation : Aiming to be the best in Japan with the proud tradition of \u201cW\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-17172 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/assets\/uploads\/2016\/10\/ac96ca3a7505c10939bf4d14afecb999.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"193\" height=\"322\" \/>Takumi Kuki<br \/>\nFourth Year, School of Sport Science<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Waseda University Track &amp; Field Club has produced many top runners including Mikio Oda, who was Japan&#8217;s first gold medalist at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. Kuki, who was named the captain at the turning point of the club\u2019s 100th anniversary, is also among athletes who joined the club aspiring to become a part of Waseda\u2019s tradition and don its dark red uniform. \u201cI have known since my childhood that Waseda has a strong, well-established track and field club. When I was in my third year at high school, I had an opportunity to hear from the captain of the Track &amp; Field Club. I felt that the club not only is focused on competing at the top level in Japan, but also has its sights set on even greater heights. So, I felt I wanted to take aim on the world stage from here.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_17173\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-17173\" src=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/assets\/uploads\/2016\/10\/04d87ba58bf7007bfcbd4218b43483bf.jpg\" width=\"234\" height=\"234\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/assets\/uploads\/2016\/10\/04d87ba58bf7007bfcbd4218b43483bf.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/assets\/uploads\/2016\/10\/04d87ba58bf7007bfcbd4218b43483bf-290x290.jpg 290w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 234px) 100vw, 234px\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">At the Japan Championships in Athletics competition last June, he came in eighth at 10.38 seconds\u2014a disappointing outcome for him. He is expected to make up for the performance at the All Japan Student Championships in September. Photo provided by: Waseda University Track &amp; Field Club<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Although Kuki had performed brilliantly in world youth championships and other competitions since high school, he struggled to improve on his personal record in his first year of college. However, he quickly established his ability in a year, achieving a remarkable breakthrough at the Japan Championships in Athletics competition in June 2012. He just missed winning the championship by a margin of 0.01 seconds, but was selected as a member for the 4 \u00d7 100-meter relay in the London Olympics three month later. At the mere age of 19, he had punched his ticket to the dream stage that he had been aiming for since he was a child.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_17170\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-17170\" src=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/assets\/uploads\/2016\/10\/440d2db506ab491f293ecc4ebc4a64af.jpg\" alt=\"At the send-off party for the London Olympics in 2012, with members such as Genki Dean (a 2014 graduate from School of Sport Science), who participated in the same Track &amp; Field Club\" width=\"213\" height=\"213\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/assets\/uploads\/2016\/10\/440d2db506ab491f293ecc4ebc4a64af.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/assets\/uploads\/2016\/10\/440d2db506ab491f293ecc4ebc4a64af-290x290.jpg 290w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 213px) 100vw, 213px\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">At the send-off party for the London Olympics in 2012, with members such as Genki Dean (a 2014 graduate from School of Sport Science), who participated in the same Track &amp; Field Club<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Unfortunately, since he was registered as an alternate at the long-awaited Olympic Games, he did not have a turn to actually run. \u201cThe games were the best I have ever seen in terms of the environment, scale and enthusiasm of the crowd. But, I cannot say it was a good experience as I was there just to soak in the atmosphere.\u201d Looking back on the Olympic Games, a strong sense of frustration was reflected in the tone of his voice over the fact that the event was over even though he never ran.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_17171\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-17171\" src=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/assets\/uploads\/2016\/10\/04b82883f7e0a96600203b88396dbd74.jpg\" alt=\"Baton passing practice is essential to Kuki, who also runs in relays\" width=\"220\" height=\"220\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/assets\/uploads\/2016\/10\/04b82883f7e0a96600203b88396dbd74.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/assets\/uploads\/2016\/10\/04b82883f7e0a96600203b88396dbd74-290x290.jpg 290w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 220px) 100vw, 220px\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Baton passing practice is essential to Kuki, who also runs in relays<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Kuki\u2019s personal best time is 10.19 seconds. The standard qualifying time for world championships is around 10.14 seconds. A mere 0.05 seconds to go. To improve his time, he has devoted himself to his daily training. He needs to appear in races in top physical shape through repeated days of training and adjust setting his sights on the event. He will not be able to break his personal best time if he fails to run perfectly as per his mental imagine. The 100-meter dash is such a stoic, delicate competition. Usain Bolt holds the current world record of 9.58 seconds. For Kuki, it seems that this time lies so far in the future, as it is on the other side of a thick wall. \u201cBut it\u2019s exciting. Even after years of training, a race is over in only 10 seconds. Therefore, we sprinters struggle to shave 0.01 second off our time. I have realized by watching the London Olympic Games that I cannot win even though I participate if I am barely selected as a representative member. I have to aim for a much higher level to be accepted and steadily achieve good results in Japan to compete for the Olympics because a thick wall stands before the world stage.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_17169\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-17169\" src=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/assets\/uploads\/2016\/10\/df1513085304b5787afe9ad919cb85d5.jpg\" alt=\"Even in the dormitory, he brings the younger members of the club together as the captain and is reliable \" width=\"269\" height=\"269\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/assets\/uploads\/2016\/10\/df1513085304b5787afe9ad919cb85d5.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/assets\/uploads\/2016\/10\/df1513085304b5787afe9ad919cb85d5-290x290.jpg 290w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 269px) 100vw, 269px\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Even in the dormitory, he brings the younger members of the club together as the captain and is reliable<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The Track &amp; Field Club presently is training diligently for the All Japan Student Championships in September. Since this year marks the 100th anniversary, all members have come together to discuss and set a goal to prove that Waseda is the leader in Japan\u2019s athletics. To achieve this goal, it is essential that as many Waseda athletes as possible make it to the podium and win the overall title in track events. \u201cI always feel and greatly appreciate the cheering and support from our alumni and alumnae. That\u2019s why wearing the dark red \u201cW\u201d uniform stirs my passion. I want to hold up this uniform on the podium many times with my feelings of gratitude.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Embracing Waseda\u2019s 100-year history and gratitude for his senior teammates, he will cause the name of Waseda to reverberate throughout Japan.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>\u25a0Takumi Kuki\u3000\u3000Originally from Wakayama Prefecture, Takumi Kuki graduated from Wakayamakita High School. He started track and field when he was in fourth grade of elementary school, and won back-to-back championships in the 100-meter dash at the Inter-High School Championship track and field meet when he was in high school. He now posts advice regarding methods for sprinting, etc. on a blog that he started with his brother, who was also a track and field athlete.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Takumi Kuki Fourth Year, School of Sport Science &nbsp; Waseda University Track &amp; Field Club has produced  [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3614,"featured_media":17173,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[206],"tags":[214,245],"class_list":["post-17168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-attention-en","tag-people-en","tag-news-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3614"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17168"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17177,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17168\/revisions\/17177"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}