Javelin star Kitaguchi finds new home in small Czech town
'I can concentrate on training here. And the weather is better than in Tokyo which is too hot for me,' Kitaguchi told AFP at the local training centre - on a scorching hot Czech summer day. She ended up in the cosy historic town after teaming up with local coach David Sekerak at a training seminar in Finland in 2018.
Former javelin thrower Sekerak knew that she had won the world youth championships in 2015. 'She was a big woman and I could see she had something in her,' he added, hailing her self-discipline. Kitaguchi followed him to the country of three-time Olympic javelin champion Jan Zelezny and two-time Olympic winner Barbora Spotakova.
'When I came for the first time, my coach said, today you can throw with my friend,' Kitaguchi said. 'I went with him, and there was Barbora Spotakova. It was a good experience as she is my idol,' Kitaguchi told AFP. Sekerak has since led her to the 2023 world title and the 2024 Olympic crown, together with two Diamond League titles.
Goulash
Mixing English and Czech, Kitaguchi said she appreciated 'a good balance' in Sekerak's training. 'He also finds a way... for me to throw far. And every competition he stands behind me, supporting me. It's great mental aid,' she added.
A lover of Czech beer and heavy meals like goulash or dumplings in cream sauce, Kitaguchi said she had taken Czech lessons during the pandemic. 'But they only taught me to say 'I have a pen'. Nothing I could use in training,' she said, bursting out laughing.
Her tinkling laughter can be heard even as she jogs and stretches alongside her Czech training partner Petra Sicakova, the javelin silver medallist from this year's European under-23 championships. 'My mum said when you train hard, it helps to smile. It's good for good training and good results, she said. So I do that,' Kitaguchi said.
When she competed at the Paris Olympics, a cafe in Domazlice's sprawling historic square put up a large screen for locals to cheer for their neighbour. A party followed, and city officials staged an official welcome with a local bagpipe band when Kitaguchi and Sekerak returned home.
In Domazlice, Kitaguchi lives in a flat in a hotel run by her coach's wife. 'I did a lot of the building work there myself,' said Sekerak, who also owns a printing shop and makes his own javelins, used by his team. Kitaguchi, who has her mother, a physiotherapist and a cook with her now, has her own model called Giant Baby, which is her Instagram nickname.
'Silly thoughts'
Kitaguchi, whose personal best is 67.38 metres from 2023, said her dream was to beat 70 metres. 'It's my target for my life,' she said. Sekerak said Kitaguchi could even tackle Spotakova's world record of 72.28 metres from 2008.
One condition is to drop 'silly thoughts' that got into Kitaguchi's head as she was coping with fame following the two big titles, he added. 'I think we wasted about a year there, but she's OK now. It helps to go for a beer and some good food and ice cream together.'
Ahead of the Tokyo championships starting on September 13, Kitaguchi's form is a great unknown - she is ranked sixth worldwide this season with a best of 64.63 metres. She will compete at the Diamond League in Lausanne and Zurich in August and then fine-tune her form in Turkey before leaving for Tokyo.
Sekerak said she was safer in Domazlice than in Japan where she has become the face of the championships, featuring on billboards across the country. 'It's crazy,' Kitaguchi chuckled, waving aside her celebrity status. 'I hope I can show the best (in Tokyo) with people cheering (for) me and it's going to be a great memory for me. I'm really looking forward to it.' – AFP
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Kuwait Times
18 hours ago
- Kuwait Times
Ilona Maher takes women's rugby onto new plane
PARIS: Ilona Maher transcends women's rugby, giving it a profile outside of the sport in the way that Mia Hamm did for women's football. Now the stage is set at the women's World Cup in England for the American to spark even more interest. The 29-year-old phenomenon has attracted over eight million followers on social media, not only through her sporting exploits but also for her promotion of body positivity. She played a pivotal role in the USA women's team winning a first ever Olympic medal, beating Australia in the third-place playoff in Paris last year. On the back of that achievement, Maher featured in Sports Illustrated's swimsuit edition and appeared in the US version of hit TV show 'Dancing with the Stars', finishing runner-up. The Maher-fuelled improvement of the USA team attracted the attention of American investor Michele Kang who donated $4 million to help develop the USA Women's Rugby Sevens Team over four years. In another sport, Kang owns the Lyon women's football team, the eight-time European champions. Maher's days in Paris were not just spent playing rugby but also attracting even more followers with her pithy social media posts. She compared life in the Athletes' Village to a reality TV show, in one humorous posting saying she was there 'looking for love', to which her friend replies: 'No you are here to play rugby.' In more reflective mode in Paris, she told the Bleacher Report one of her goals was trying to reassure 'girls' that playing sport did not take away their 'girliness'. 'What we're trying to show is the beauty that in sports you can be a badass on the field, you can be a beast on the field, but also be a beauty,' she said. 'It's really important for me because I want girls to see what their body is capable of. 'It's not just to be looked at, objectified, but it's strong and it's fast, and it's brilliant.' Maher, who through her body positivity push has become a brand ambassador for a deodorant and a skincare product she co-founded, revels in her global popularity and being 'America's sweetheart.' 'I love when people call me that because I feel like I'm maybe not the image you would have of a sweetheart in some sense of the word,' Maher told CNN in January this year. 'I'm honoured.' – AFP
Kuwait Times
18 hours ago
- Kuwait Times
Khamzat Chimaev dominates Driscus Du Plessis to win title
CHICAGO: Joe Rogan talks to Khamzat Chimaev of the United Arab Emirates after his middleweight title bout victory in UFC 319 at the United Center on August 16, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. – AFP CHICAGO: Khamzat Chimaev's total dominance of Dricus du Plessis to win the UFC middleweight title in Chicago on Saturday was reflected in some jaw-dropping statistics that paint a stark picture of the challenge faced by any challenger hoping to dethrone him. Apart from the last couple of minutes of the final round, the Chechen-born Chimaev, who began training in MMA while living in Sweden before moving to Abu Dhabi and fighting under the flag of the United Arab Emirates, utterly smothered his South African opponent. Despite being the champion, Du Plessis came into the fight as the betting underdog and it quickly became apparent why. Having built his career on his suffocating wrestling, the 31-year-old Chimaev immediately took the champion down and the punishment began. In all, Chimaev fired off a whopping 567 strikes over the course of five five-minute rounds, landing a stunning 529 of them. Du Plessis managed a mere 68, and landed only 45. Nothing the challenger did was either unexpected or fancy. He took the fight to the mat with a double-leg takedown and then advanced to a crucifix position, trapping the right arm of Du Plessis with his legs and lying across his opponent's torso to control his other arm. That left Du Plessis almost defenceless as Chimaev fired short left hands at his head, knowing that one wrong move by the man on the bottom while trying to escape could put him in a worse position, or even see him knocked out. To his great credit Du Plessis, who is also 31, never quit but by the end of the third round he was so far behind on the scorecards that he needed a finish. He somehow found the energy to go on the offensive in the final two minutes of the fight, but to no avail. Incredibly for such a one-sided fight, the toughness of Du Plessis managed to keep the fans in attendance at the United Center on the edge of their seats, despite knowing that Chimaev was on his way to a one-sided unanimous decision victory. The UFC had a number of middleweight contenders sitting cage-side, and their only consolation as they watched the brutal beat-down of Du Plessis and Chimaev's coronation might have been that he didn't manage to finish the fight early with a violent knockout or submission. If that is indeed his only flaw, none of them will be heading to the gym on Monday morning and relishing the prospect of facing the new champion and challenging him for the belt. – Reuters
Kuwait Times
18 hours ago
- Kuwait Times
Akie Iwai joins twin sister as winner with Portland Classic
LOS ANGELES: Japan's Akie Iwai fired six birdies in a six-under par 66 to win the Portland Classic by four strokes and join twin sister Chisato as a first-time LPGA winner in their rookie season on the US tour. Iwai started the day at Edgewater Country Club with a two-stroke lead and never faltered to finish with a 24-under par total of 264. Chisato Iwai was among the golfers trying to apply pressure, charging up the leaderboard with an eight-under par 64, but it was American Gurleen Kaur who finished second after an impressive, bogey-free seven-under par 65 for 268. Former US collegiate standout Kaur, opened with three straight birdies and had four more coming in for her career-best LPGA round. Akie Iwai became the 10th first-time LPGA winner this season and the fifth Japanese player to triumph. She said she'd felt pressure to join the flood of Japanese winners, but even more she was inspired by her sister's triumph at the Riviera Maya Open in Mexico in May. '(She) really inspired me,' said world number 29 Iwai, who was runner-up this year at Thailand and the LA Championship. 'That's why I did my best this year.' Iwai got off to a steady start, with back-to-back birdies at the fifth and sixth and two more at 11 and 14. She got up and down for par from off the green at 16, then capped her day with another birdie brace, curling in a testing birdie putt at 17 before draining an 18-footer at 18. 'Today I was able to conquer myself,' she said. Her sister, who had been watching the final holes nervously, was the first to rush the green and start the champagne-spray celebrations. 'Just watching, so nervous,' Chisato said as Iwai was coming down the final stretch. 'I'm cheering for her.' But first she had been chasing, and hard. Chisato started the day seven adrift but after an early bogey exploded with eagles at the fifth and seventh - with a birdie at the sixth sandwiched between. She strung together four straight birdies from the ninth through the 12th and rebounded from a bogey at 15 with one last birdie at 17. She finished tied for third on 19-under 269 with Sweden's Linn Grant, who rolled in the seventh birdie of her five-under 67 at 18. Australia's Grace Kim, who captured her first major title at the Evian Championship last month, started the day two shots off the lead and carded a two-under 70 that left her in sole possession of fifth place on 270. — AFP
