Japanese letsrunners, what did you think of having someone who lives in America lighting up the Tokyo Olympic flame?

They wouldn't know because she doesn't talk to the media there, either, because they try to "embarrass her" by trying to converse with her in Japanese, which she doesn't know.

When I saw they had her do the lighting I thought isnt it unusual for a current athlete to do that? Idk. Also the aspect that you already said like how much time does she actually spend in Japan lol. What about Noguchi marathon champ from Athens obv marathon is huge there or else the star player from when they won the World Cup. Prob either is better choice esp the world cup

hannsen wrote:

When I saw they had her do the lighting I thought isnt it unusual for a current athlete to do that? Idk. Also the aspect that you already said like how much time does she actually spend in Japan lol. What about Noguchi marathon champ from Athens obv marathon is huge there or else the star player from when they won the World Cup. Prob either is better choice esp the world cup

Naoko Takahashi is 100 times more popular than Noguchi in Japan.

100% american here - from what i’ve seen/heard, japan loves naomi. she’s a huge celebrity there and goes home (japan) occasionally as her mom is full japanese.

kind of unreal the amount of hate naomi receives from americans. she’s great at tennis, yet faces a great mental block that gets heightened with the media. why does everyone assume it’s so easy to go talk to reporters who ask “hey how does it feel to lose this early in the tournament” anytime you don’t win a tournament.

the constant hate i read on her on these threads and instagram comments is laughable. the biggest is calling her immature. she was homeschooled her whole life for the reason of being a tennis star. she made it. she lit the olympic torch. she’s #2 in the world despite half of america hating her. she wasn’t coco gauff- she didn’t have expectations and hype running for a long time. she won the 2018 US Open out of nowhere and was thrust into the spotlight and constant pressure. i think she deserves some slack and who really cares her personality wasn’t made for the media and to cater to you random letsrunners. she plays good tennis and that’s all that should matter

Citizen runner yuki would have been a better choice. But anyway, I assumed the choice would be someone with an Olympic history. Naomi fits zero criteria in my mind. I wonder why she was chosen.

Disko Eric wrote:

Citizen runner yuki would have been a better choice. But anyway, I assumed the choice would be someone with an Olympic history. Naomi fits zero criteria in my mind. I wonder why she was chosen.

Because Naomi is a japanese superstar she is immensly popular in japan but that was not always the case due to her being mixed

Disko Eric wrote:

Citizen runner yuki would have been a better choice. But anyway, I assumed the choice would be someone with an Olympic history. Naomi fits zero criteria in my mind. I wonder why she was chosen.

Agree. I don’t get it. An American with no Olympic pedigree lights the torch in Japan? Nothing against Osaka, but it doesn’t really make any sense.

Was hoping for Ichiro if they wanted to commercialise the role

hannsen wrote:

When I saw they had her do the lighting I thought isnt it unusual for a current athlete to do that? Idk. Also the aspect that you already said like how much time does she actually spend in Japan lol. What about Noguchi marathon champ from Athens obv marathon is huge there or else the star player from when they won the World Cup. Prob either is better choice esp the world cup

Didn't Kathy Freeman of Australia have the same honor?

I don't know I was too busy training with a group of 100 sub 2:10 marathoners. How many does America have oh right you can count that on 1 hand. Well here in Japan you would need a stadium to count how many Japanese marathoners are ahead of your top 3.

JapaneseMarathoner wrote:

Well here in Japan you would need a stadium to count how many Japanese marathoners are ahead of your top 3.

How would a stadium aid you in counting said marathoners? You can’t look at a list and count the number of names on it without a stadium?

It’s about fame and marketing.

They got you talking about the torch lighter.

You wouldn’t have started a thread about someone else.

This move got lots of press around the world, I’m sure.

I remember the US had some guy who changed his name and converted to Islam that lit the torch.

coach wrote:

Didn't Kathy Freeman of Australia have the same honor?

Yes, she did. But she was also (1) already a prior Olympian (won silver in Atlanta) and (2) was actually from Australia. This was a huge disappointment. Japan has Olympic gold medalists who could have lit it, including the women's marathon from a both 2000 (Naoko Takahashi) and 2004 (Mizuki Noguchi) and two-time medal winner in the marathon (Yuko Arimori, silver in '92 and bronze in '96). This is just one event. I'm sure if you looked through their history they have plenty of very worthy Olympic winners.

Yes she did. I did extensive research as I was curious(ie Google and skimming Wikipedia). It appears having a current athlete is fairly rare but not unprecedented. If most Japanese are cool with it it's all good. I still like other choices better but I'm not a selector. Also prob a little too late to do anything about it lol.

The only ones I could remember were Rafer Johnson and Muhammad Ali-I'm so american. And of course the coolest one of all time the bow and arrow one from Barcelona. Also I don't really watch the ceremonies so that doesn't help.

fully vaxxed, anti-masked wrote:

Disko Eric wrote:

Citizen runner yuki would have been a better choice. But anyway, I assumed the choice would be someone with an Olympic history. Naomi fits zero criteria in my mind. I wonder why she was chosen.

Agree. I don’t get it. An American with no Olympic pedigree lights the torch in Japan? Nothing against Osaka, but it doesn’t really make any sense.

You clearly have a lot against her.

fully vaxxed, anti-masked wrote:

Agree. I don’t get it. An American with no Olympic pedigree lights the torch in Japan? Nothing against Osaka, but it doesn’t really make any sense.

Well for one, you’re wrong. She is not an American, she’s Japanese.

They wanted a face that was internationally recognizable. And the hotdog eating guy just didn’t seem right.

I would have voted for Koji Gushiken.

USA all the way wrote:

Any Japanese on here? What do you think of having someone who lives in American light the flame?

I found it kind of funny when MikeTirico on the NBC broadcast said something like "She has the honor or lighting the flame at her home Olympics." When he said that, I was thinking, "Her home is in California"

Is she a huge star there? Or is this a sign of woke culture going world wide? I mean on her wikipedia page it says she's referred to as a "hāfu" meaning that she is half-Japanese. Do people still refer to her like that or have things changed quickly?

I seriously doubt there are any Japanese that post on LR. They do speak a different language.