Team's victory better than personal glory

Japan's Chisato Fukushima (second left) wins the women's 200m gold medal in 23.62 seconds on Thursday. [Photo/China Daily]

GUANGZHOU - Speed queen Chisato Fukushima of Japan isn't in it for personal glory. She would rather the whole team share the spoils.

Fukushima cleaned up the track in Guangzhou this week, nailing the 200m dash on Thursday in 23.62 seconds after winning the 100m in 11.33 several days earlier to end Japan's 32-year gold drought in the event.

"Now I'm going all out to get another gold in the (4x100) relay with my teammates (on Friday evening), which would make me even happier than winning the individual events," said the 22-year-old.

"I was targeting a hat-trick before the Asian Games, so I just tried to keep cool after the 100m and stay in the best place possible both physically and mentally," she said.

Fukushima credited her teammates with buoying her up with the confidence to win the 200m when they went through the preliminaries for the 4x100m relay on Tuesday.

The Japanese sprinter's dominance left Vietnam's Vu Thi Huong settling for silver in the 200m and bronze in the 100m, with Guzel Khubbieva of Uzbekistan picking up the other two medals on offer.

Fukushima started running at 10 and was participating in national competitions five years later. At Beijing 2008, her time of 11.74 was not good enough to advance to the second round of the 100m, but she has since broken Japan's national records at both distances.

This time last year, at the Athletics Asian Championships, also in Guangzhou, she won her first regional title in the 100m with a time of 11.27. Three days later, she nailed the 4x100m relay final, a feat she aims to repeat this week.

"I hit my peak at the Beijing Olympics, and I've been maintaining it for a long time," she said. "But there are a lot of excellent athletes outside Asia, so I need to work harder and practice more."

China Daily