Speed skating-Japan's Olympic champion Kodaira to retire

Intage Holdings

12/04/2022 10:31

April 12 (Reuters) - Japan's former Olympic speed skating
champion Nao Kodaira will retire from the sport in October
following a final race in her hometown of Nagano, the long track
speed skater said on Tuesday.
    The 35-year-old won Olympic gold in the women's 500 metres
in Pyeongchang four years ago, as well as a silver in the 1,000
metres. She also won a silver in the team pursuit event in
Vancouver 2010, alongside Masako Hozumi and Maki Tabata.
    Kodaira had a disappointing outing at the Beijing Winter
Games in February, finishing 17th in the 500m and 10th in the
1,000m.
    "I'm nervous about what I'm about to say," Kodaira told a
news conference. "I ... will run the last race of my career this
October at the national single distances championships.
    "When I thought about how long life is, I didn't want it to
be only about speed skating. I felt that now was around the
right time. 
    "There are several reasons but I wanted to race one last
time while I still can physically. I wanted the last race to be
at home in (the Shinshu region)"
    Kodaira won 500m gold at the World Single Distance
Championships in 2017 and 2020.

 (Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru
Editing by Christian Radnedge)
 ((Aadi.Nair@thomsonreuters.com;))