Mizuki Noguchi and Olympic Athletics Marathon

Mizuki Noguchi was born on July 3, 1978. She is a Japanese professional long-distance runner who specializes in the marathon event. She is an Olympic champion over the distance and set two world records in 2005. Initially starting out as a track and cross country athlete, her first major success was becoming the Asian cross country champion at age 21. She soon switched to road running, however, focusing on the half marathon.

She won the individual and team silver medals at the 1999 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships and won a second team silver with a fourth place finish at the same competition in 2000. A switch to the marathon event demonstrated her talents further: she won the Nagoya and Osaka Women's Marathons, and took the silver medal in the marathon at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics. Her good form continued and she became the Olympic champion in the marathon at the 2004 Athens Olympics. 

She won the Berlin Marathon the following year, setting world records at 25 km and 30 km along the way, and finishing with a personal best of 2:19:12 a new Asian record for the distance. The 25K world record was beaten by Mary Keitany of Kenya in 2010, which ran the distance in 1:19:53 hours. Prior to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Noguchi had set the second fastest time in the world for the previous year. However, she was ruled out of all competitions after tests revealed that she had fatigue and a muscular back problem. 

She missed the Olympics and the whole of the 2009 and 2010 seasons as a result. She returned in November 2011 with a fifth place finish at the Zevenheuvelenloop. She tried to gain a spot on the 2012 Olympic team, but her run of 2:25:33 hours left her in sixth at the Nagoya Marathon. Now for Olympic 2012, Olympic Athletics Marathon Tickets are being sold at Sport Ticket Exchange. Sport Ticket Exchange offers you all sorts of Olympic Tickets including Olympic Athletics Marathon Tickets at very cheap prices.