Painful finish

OUCH~ (>_<)

Wishing a speed recovery to her...

That guy must be 3 times her weight.

Looks painful.

If she didn't have the expensive track shoes on, I would have thought it was a photo of a starving child from the Famine over in East Africa. Well done to Japan on the 5th place. But Kenya 1,2,3, pretty impressive!

Shes so tiny! Wishing her a speedy recovery.

What happened to her?

She's so thin and tiny, wonder if she can complete even 1 meter run !

Well, what happened to her? How did she finish? An explanation would be helpful.

I found out what happened to her. She just collapsed after finishing the race in 17th place. Congratulations to her for finishing the race! I would probably collapse after running 10,000 meters myself.

These races are real efforts of strength, I'm not surprised she probably cramped up intensely upon reaching the end. It makes it impossible to walk or even stand without feeling serious pain.

Why? More info please... did she run into a wall?

A 10,000 metre race and yesterday a marathon run in August heat,if it happened in this country the bashers would be jumping out of trees saying how dumb the Japanese are....

According to Wikipedia she is 153 cm tall and weighs 38 kg. She's a little bit thinner then the average Japanese women in her age group but nothing extreme.

In Japan, average weight for a 153 cm tall women in her early 20's is 44 kg (plus/minus 3 kg).

I watched the 10000 km race. It was too painful and even humiliating to watch for the Japanese girl. She finished 5 minutes after the winner and collapsed on the track, she could not stand and was crawling along the track. She is extremely thin;as in the modeling world where there is a lower weight limit, there should introduce such a limit in athletics and other sports. We do not need to see people dying from malnutrition on the track. She was like a ghost running on the track, a head without a body. It was written on the screen that she recently recovered from a disease too. If she was sick, why did she participated so early after a disease?

She's a little bit thinner then the average Japanese women in her age group but nothing extreme.

She is obviously malnourished, without muscle mass and not in shape to run 10000 km. She was several laps behind the Kenya women and came last.

Why is 10000 metres and 10 kilometres race? Hope she is OK. At least she didn't cry.

At least she didn't cry.

i had the impression she was crying and suffering all the 10000 m. She was really exhausted and in pain and it was amazing she finished the race. I wonder if the risk was worth it.

A 10,000 metre race and yesterday a marathon run in August heat,if it happened in this country the bashers would be jumping out of trees saying how dumb the Japanese are....

About the marathon, the temperature was 34 degrees at the end. About the 10000 m race it was in the night, the temperature was 23 degrees and pretty comfortable. The announcer even said that he felt cold.

Agree with lovenot - I also watched the race and the Japanese were crap. Finished in the bottom three. Sorry but with the right amount of training, there is not reason to collapse after a 10k run when you are you well fed and well looked after. This women look hideous next to all the other runners and clearly has an eating disorder. Distance runners are thin but she is extreme. She made the others runners look fat and I am not shocked she collapsed - horrible run and she looked in pain the whole time. She needs to be taken out of competing until she gets her weight back to a decent range for an athlete.

I thought this was Special Olympics when I first saw the photo.

I'm a amateur runner who's been running in races for many years. A 10k race is a middle distance race where you need just about equal amounts of endurance and strength. It's not possible to comment on her conditioning or her individual talent, but barring an injury a well conditioned runner shouldn't appear as she does here. Elite runners do push themselves to the limits of their ability, but rarely have to be carried off the track.

paulinusa: thanks for the post, great info... while I give an A for effort and taking nothing away from her that she is doing something I couldn't do.... she's faking it, playing the ganbare card, "please feel sorry for me because I tried"... just take it like a (wo)man and lose with honor please.

I watched it too, she looked really poorly most of the race, lots of grimacing, she really should have pulled out at about 7-8000m, no-one would have criticized her for doing so after watching her. The third Japanese runner in the race had one of the most bizarre running styles I have ever seen.

Although they didn't dominate at all, they really stuck out in the race

Make it go away.

small, skinny starvation like body... and as big head... poor thing looks like she should belong in a starving 3rd world country... wishing the poor thing speedy recovery

yes, her head looks disproportionally big, either she is very smart with big brain or her body is way too thin...................

When I saw the pic I thought that she must have had a stress fracture in her foot and I thought that she is way too thin. After reading the posts I find that she was 17th in the 10k along with recovering from an illness. She should not have been running. When you collapse after your event, there is a problem.

not sure why i got voted down sobs I really did think it was special olympics when I saw the picture at first sobs you're probably gonna vote this down too... but can you blame me?? I mean, just look at the picture! Does it look like a normal scene from a normal race?

These kind of falls at the end of a marathon-like running do happen, especially under the sun. So, she has nothing to be ashamed of. She had the guts to go through this very long race and deserve our respect. Congratulations to her !

The third Japanese runner in the race had one of the most bizarre running styles I have ever seen.

Robot girl?? My husband and I were killing ourselves laughing at her! Between her, the skeleton and the large faced uni student Japan just looked horrible!!

Garbo, 10k is NOT "marathon" like at all!! Guts? This is her life to train for a race! If she is ill, she shouldn't be running. End of story.

She was assigned the unlucky number 13...

Would she have ate properly, everybody know that for sports you have to listen to your body. What's more important to win or to stay "alive"/healthy.

She is so skinny! They push those kids too hard!

Send one to Krispy Kreme, and keep the other one out!

Kinukawa is not under nourished, she is an elite distance runner who had a very bad day. For those of you who know nothing about distance running, elite runners have low total body weights, being small in stature and lightly muscled, particularly in the upper body. These physical traits are important given they have to carry their body weight over many kilometres. Distance runners also typically carry very low body-fat levels.

Kinukawa looked ill last night and really should have not ran or pulled out once she felt discomfort. It is a shame because she has been through an awful lot over the last four years with illness and injury and has only just returned to world class form.

Thank you, beowulf.

This field may be awfully difficult for Japanese. I don't know why, but only Ethiopian and Kenyan can win. I would like to appreciate her, regardless of her ranking.

Kinukawa looked ill last night and really should have not ran or pulled out once she felt discomfort. It is a shame because she has been through an awful lot over the last four years with illness and injury and has only just returned to world class form.

Then what was she doing on the team? If she had that many strikes against her they should have chosen a lesser known but better prepared and fit runner to represent the country.

In fairness to her, several men left the track during their 10,000 this evening. The Japanese athletes should start the race with a reasonable aim and keep a pace that will accomplish it, whether it's qualifying for the Olympics, top how ever many finish, personal record, whatever. But it should be something within reach. Run until you nearly die is not necessarily the best goal, but it seems to be a common one for Japanese athletes. I wouldn't think that finishing the race would be the goal in the 10,000. But again, several men with quite more obvious musculature than she failed to do that tonight. That bloke looks as if he took the wrong plane whilst heading to the judo meet in Paris.

Then what was she doing on the team? If she had that many strikes against her they should have chosen a lesser known but better prepared and fit runner to represent the country.

Two months ago she ran an "A qualifier" for both the 5000 metres and 10000 metres respectively and excluding one other Japanese runner (Fukushi, who is not competing because she is focusing on the marathon) she is the fastest Japanese female runner over both distances this year. I am not sure what else she could have done to qualify.

As far as I know her preparation was fine for this competition and she was fit, so what happened yesterday is anybody's guess. But looking at her before the race she looked visibly pale, so I would say she was sick.

If she was not sick then it would have been wiser not to run.

Nancy Grace and other feminists would hate this photo. Strong man, manhandling a little woman... they'd call him a pedophile or molester.

calm downAUG. 28, 2011 - 09:41AM JST A 10,000 metre race and yesterday a marathon run in August heat,if it happened in this country the bashers would be jumping out of trees saying how dumb the Japanese are....

NO, JUST DUMB FOR COMPETING IN IT.

beowulf did you watch the race? She made the other women look fat. It isn't a matter of you thinking none of us run on here - I do and I am sure there are a few others as well. The girl is faaaaaaar too skinny and is obviously ill and weak. There is being thin and in shape and then there is looking like her. She should NOT be on the team in her shape.

Kinukawa looks like the normal marathon distance runner. She only looks skinny, because she is pictured in relation to a huge guy. That guy carrying her would make a lot of fat people look skinny. In fact, all of the Kenyan women were skinnier than her, and yet they were able to win. To us, they might seem too skinny. However, it is lean muscle that they have. Just like Q-chan, they all have some pretty muscular abs under their shirts.

beowulf did you watch the race? She made the other women look fat.

Seriously, she made the Bronze medalist, Linet Chepkwemoi Masai look fat?

http://s1.e-monsite.com/2009/08/15/resize_550_550/4629744linet-chepkwemoi-masai-jpg.jpg

I am not saying Kinukawa is not thin, she is, but that is her body shape when she is running and training. I also wrote that I thought she looked ill and should not have run, but...

On TV the Kenyan women looked energetic, vigorous and strong and with more muscle mass than the Japanese girls. Even if they were thin they did not stagger. I think one Ethiopean woman did not finish the competition and even she looked much stronger than Kinukawa. Kinukawa was on the verge of collapse during the whole competition. It was really scary to watch the race because I was so anxious to watch the face of Kinukawa, she was pale and obviously in a state where she was moving automatically and needed doctors assistance. I was thinking where the ambulance was all the time.... Anorexical athletes should be forbidden from competiting. Yes, long distance runners need to be thin to be able to run faster the long distance but in such a heavy discipline anorexical sickly people should be banned from competition.

I don't know if she is anorexic or unhealthily underweight as many believe - she is an elite distance runner after all. However, I would agree it is not a particularly attractive body - designed simply as a running machine, nothing more.

Well run race Kinukawa, however, look like a baby, who needs changed.

I didn't see the race but do realize that athletes competing at this level are obviously not your ordinary fitness buff. They have a uncommon dedication that to a casual sports fan seems fanatical. It may be that Kinukawa's competitiveness got the best of her judgement as to her fitness level and preparedness for this particular race. As to her size/weight, long distance runners do look like they are malnourished and unfit though the opposite is the case. They consume large amounts of calories because of the energy that is expended in training and in competition. Hope she has a better result in her next race.

Actually, looking skinny does not necessarily mean a person would collapse. I've seen or heard of many seemingly normal weight looking people collapse from stressful exercise or activities because they lack the proper cardiovascular training and experience. It all boils down to how fit you are. Cardiovascular fitness has more to do with proper training, than how much weight you have on you. Even re-hydrating techniques play a bigger part in how well you can endure a full marathon, than the weight you have on you. Does anyone remember the Japanese woman Noguchi? She was super tiny and extremely skinny (maybe even skinnier than Kinukawa), but she was able to run good races and win silver in the 2003 World Championships and gold in Athens 2004. It was all due to proper training.

She is obviously malnourished, without muscle mass and not in shape to run 10000 km. She was several laps behind the Kenya women and came last.

Vivian Cheruiyot who won the race is 155 cm tall and weighs 38 kg. Kinukawa is 153 cm tall and weighs 38 kg. She is not malnourished, neither is Cheruiyot, a malnourished person cannot run 10 km.

Long distance runners do not need muscle mass like short distance runners who use glycogen stored in muscle (anaerobic ATP generation). Endurance athletes have very efficient fat burning metabolism and high free fatty acid turnover (aerobic ATP generation). Strong tendons are much important for long distance runners, not muscles.

Being small and having a lean body is a great advantage for long distance running. Less pressure on leg and foot tendons and a better perspiration mechanism; waste products of aerobic metabolism (water & carbon dioxide) need to be effectively removed from the body for best performance.

Poor girl...ganbatte! :)

She did make the other runners look fat. You cherry picked the other thin women on there. Go to youtube, look at the start and tell me the others don't look a heck of a lot larger than her. Ill with issues. Should not be competing.

Go to youtube, look at the start and tell me the others don't look a heck of a lot larger than her.

tmarie: I've taken a look at the youtube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZioGB4Axt88&feature=related

From the video, I counted about 8-9 runners that were as skinny as Kinukawa. Considering there were 18 runners who ran the final, that would make it about half. Besides, at least Kinukawa finished the race; albeit in 17th place. There was an Ethiopian woman who didn't even finish. There was also a 19th runner who didn't even start the race. And let's not forget the many other 10,000 m runners who didn't even qualify for this final.

In the end, she did finish the race and ran a season best time for her. She only collapsed because she pushed herself more than her pace towards the end.

She shouldn't have started to race!!

Running can be an adiction....gotta run, gotta run...my friend was doing an Iron Man and fealt funny the last 5k of a race but didn't realize he was dragging his one leg as he had a freakin stroke during the race but had to finish....He is what we call a bean pole (very tall and skinny).