Cyclist from Okinawa to go to the Olympics
May 2, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo
On May 1, the Japan Cycling Federation selected 27 year-old cyclist Yukiya Arashiro (from Ishigaki City, Team Europcar) as a male road bicycle race representative in the London Olympics. He is the first representative from Okinawa to be chosen for this year’s London Olympics.
Arashiro completed the world’s largest cycling race, the Tour de France, two years in a row. He came ninth in the 2010 UCI Road World Championships, the highest place ever for a Japanese professional.
On April 29, he was ranked ninth in the national championship, the last race that counted as an Olympic trial. Nevertheless, he hung on to second place in the rankings in the last year and a half, after Fumiyuki Beppu (29 years old, Team GreenEDGE), who had already been selected as an Olympic racer.
On May 1, at the Nihon Jitensha Kaikan in Minato Ward, Tokyo, after securing a place in the Olympics, Arashiro enthusiastically said, “I’m very happy. I’m good at the Olympic course. I’m out to win a medal.”
(English translation by T&CT, Megumi Chibana and Mark Ealey)
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