University of Minnesota Athletics
Shani Marks in Japan ? Blog #6 ? Competition Day Finally Arrives
8/29/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
U.S. triple jump champion and former Golden Gopher All-American Shani Marks will be representing the U.S. at the IAAF World Track & Field Championships in Osaka, Japan. Marks, a volunteer assistant coach for the Gopher track team, departed for Japan on Sunday, Aug. 19, and has agreed to give us a first-hand account of her experiences in the Land of the Rising Sun. She is traveling with Amanda Thieschafer, also a volunteer assistant coach for the Gophers and Marks' training partner.
Shani Marks Blog #6 Wednesday, Aug. 29
Well, I would be lying if I said that today’s results weren’t a little disappointing. We got only three jumps today (top 12 advance to Friday’s final) and I had a best jump of 13.90 meters (45 feet, 7 1/4 inches) which placed me about 18th I think. I actually felt great while I was jumping, but am so used to getting six jumps that I just couldn’t put one out there in the first three in order to make the final. I competed against the very best and the competition was tough. Very tough. But the fact is that I had a very successful year and I learned a lot so I am ready to rest and then get ready to work hard for next year when it all really counts.
On a happier note, we had two USA champions on the track today. Michelle Perry won the women’s 100 hurdles in 12.46 seconds. That race was fun to watch because we had three USA women in the final and also two athletes for Big Ten athletes (Perdita Felicien of Canada and Susanna Kallur of Sweden) in the final race. Our other USA champion was Bernard Lagat in the 1500. He won with a time of 3:34.77.
Well, Amanda and I have two more days here in Japan so we are planning on doing a little more touring and of course checking out the final days of the meet. We'll keep you posted!
- Shani
Shani Marks Blog #5 Tuesday, Aug. 28
It's been two low key days since I last wrote. Yesterday Amanda and I took a trip to Kaiukan Aquarium which is one of the largest aquariums in the world. I wasn't expecting to see anything too interesting but let me tell you there are some fish in this world that I did not know existed! I had to include a picture of these crabs whose legs had to be like 3 feet long. Imagine getting served a 3 foot long crab leg at Red Lobster..haha! Which reminds me, Amanda and I tried Takoyaki (remember the lobster balls?) and I have to be fair and say that maybe we got a bad batch... but we were NOT impressed. At all. But at least now we can say we tried it. But never again.
Today we headed over to the Osaka Castle, which is one of the oldest and most famous castles in Osaka. The grounds were beautiful and one of the only places in Japan where we've seen open space and grass! We made a few new Japanese friends today as well. While we were looking lost trying to get home from the castle, this 12 year-old Japanese girl walked over and politely asked if she could help us. Her name was Osma and her and her grandma ended up walking us all the way to the train and also rode to our stop with us. Our smart friend spoke three different languages so of course we wished we could keep her as our tour guide for our last few days here, but unfortunately she had to get home :) But she was so cute that I had to put a picture of her on here. We also met a couple of nice Japanese women who finally taught us how to properly eat with chopsticks so that was extremely helpful!
The last two days at the track have been pretty exciting. Last night, our men triple jumpers, Walter Davis and Aarik Wilson finished third and fifth. Our women dominated the 100 meters finishing second, third, and fourth. The race was so close that it took about 5 minutes for the final results to get posted! We also had a gold medal finish for Kerron Clement in the men’s 400-meter hurdles with a world-leading time of 47.61 seconds!
Tomorrow night (early Wednesday morning for you guys) I finally compete! I am really excited to finally get going. My plan is to keep things simple and have fun and the rest will take care of itself! I will drop a note tomorrow night and let you all know how it went! Wish me luck!
- Shani
Shani Marks Blog #4 Sunday, Aug. 26
My travels through Japan are slowly starting to wind down since I compete in three days already! But yesterday Amanda and I made a quick trip to Kyoto, which is a city in Japan famous for all of its temples, palaces, gardens, and museums. We had fun walking through street markets that sell the best fruit you’ve ever had in your life! And of course, the shopping there was also great! The shop owners were so nice. They let us try some different kinds of fruit that we had never seen before! They were also very excited to give us a few Japanese sweat towels. It is so hot here that many Japanese people walk around with these small towels to wipe the sweat from their face. Trust me, I have put that towel to good use!
This afternoon we visited Hep 5, a famous mall in Japan that has a HUGE Ferris wheel that goes right through the middle of it. The view from the top showed the entire city of Osaka! The picture will show you just how busy (and crowded!) Osaka is!
Because of the big time change, Starbucks is a part of our everyday life here and we finally learned why we were getting mean looks from the Japanese people here whenever we were walking around drinking our coffee. Apparently it is considered rude to walk around while drinking in the country of Japan. Next on the agenda is to find out why the women's bathrooms have mainly urinals in the stalls and only a few toilets!
The last two days of the meet have been pretty exciting. The crowd is unbelievable and as you can see from the pictures, the stadium is nearly packed full even on prelim days! It’s fun to see so many people who are excited about track and field. I have to mention that there are two other Minnesotans on the USA Team. Kara Goucher (Duluth) and Katie McGregor (St. Louis Park). They both competed in the 10,000 meters yesterday.
Goucher had a great race and finished third! And USA team members Reese Hoffa and Adam Nelson finished first and second in the shot put! Today, Tyson Gay beat out world record Holder Osafa Powell of Jamaica for the gold medal in the 100 meters. The media has been making a huge deal out of the race between Powell and Gay so it was fun to see Tyson come out on top. So far so good for Team USA!
I’m off to bed. Thanks for reading and I will keep you guys updated on the rest of my journey through Japan!
- Shani
Shani Marks Blog #3 Friday, Aug. 24
So yesterday was my birthday in Japan and today is my birthday in the USA ... so to be fair to both countries Amanda and I are celebrating for two days :) Today we traveled to a famous area in Osaka called Dotombori. This area is famous for its food, shopping, and nightlife so its basically one long street filled with those things. We shopped until our legs hurt! Oh by the way, Osaka is famous for its Takoyaki (balls of octopus) and they are sold this everywhere in Dotombori. We were not brave enough to try it (yet) but we took some pictures of it for you!
We went to dinner at this traditional Japanese restaurant where we actually ate in this little private room (more like a little closet), cross-legged on the floor! Ok, so my knees could only handle being crossed for like 10 minutes. But Amanda and I loved it, it was so much fun! I'm still not very good with chopsticks though, so there was lots of rice in my lap by the time we were done :)
We learned some new and interesting things about the Japanese today. Their magazines open from left to right instead of right to left. And depending on what they are reading, they sometimes read right to left or top to bottom! It’s so funny to see magazine racks because it looks like all the magazines are backwards! Also, we found out why they have "women only" cars on the subway. It is a safety issue so that women can ride the subway without fear of some of the scary men out there.
The meet finally starts tomorrow so we had a big team meeting tonight to go over all the logistics and take team pictures. Check out pictures of the USA Men's and Women's teams in the photo gallery! I also included picture of the warm up track with the stadium in the background. Thanks for reading and I will catch up with you guys again soon!
-Shani
Shani Marks Blog #2 Thursday, Aug. 23
So the weirdest thing happened today. Amanda and I were on the subway on the way to Shitennoji Temple and we noticed two guys on the subway that had on Minnesota Gophers clothes and bags. So we went up and talked to them and found out that they are both Gopher swimmers! Their names are Russ Payne and Hiro Sugimoto so of course we had to take a picture with them because this was just too weird. (Note: Russ is a senior on the Gopher men's swimming team, Hiro, a native of Japan, graduated last year.)
By the way, the subway system has been kind of confusing so far. I have a bad sense of direction but luckily Amanda has navigated us successfully (even though she did make us miss one of our stops today :) Also, there is at least one car on the subway trains that says "Women Only." For some reason that we have not yet discovered, men are not allowed on those trains. We'll keep you posted when we find out why.
Today, we visited Shitennoji Temple which is a temple that was built 1400 years ago by Prince Shotoku for the purpose of worship to Buddha images. Amanda and I climbed a million stairs to the top of it and we were both out of breath by the time we got to the there! We left there and had our first experience in a small, local Japanese restaurant. We paid a machine and then gave our ticket to the chef, who cooked the food right in front of us. It was only like $5 and it was delicious! And we were both kind of embarrassing trying to use chopsticks but we should be pros by the time we get home!
After our delicious Japanese meal we headed over to the track for a triple jump session with Dan Pfaff. He is what I like to call “the triple jump guru of the world and also a biomechanical genius :)” A few of the athletes that he coaches are Amy Acuff (4th at the 2004 Olympic games in the high jump), Kenta Bell (2004 Olympic triple jumper), and Suzy Powell (American Record holder in the discus). I learned so much in one session with him and was able to make some technical changes that I have been working on for years. And... after I was done with the workout he says to me (without touching me) that "my left and right peroneals are tight, my right talus is out a little bit, and my left IT band is tight" and that I needed to get those worked on. He could actually see those things just from watching how I was jumping! I was a little bit in shock also because none of those places had been bothering me, but I made a little visit to the physiotherapist and found out that Dan was absolutely correct with his diagnosis. So I got worked on and now I am feeling great and very optimistic for Wednesday’s competition!
That’s it for now but check out my pictures of our Gopher friends in the subway, the Shitennoji Temple, and some pictures from our local dining experience! Check in with you all later! Or as the Japanese say... Sayonara!!!
Shani
Shani Marks Blog #1 Monday, Aug. 20
After 12 and a half hours on the airplane I am finally in Osaka, Japan!
Luckily I got an exit row seat so I could stretch out! We arrived safely last night at about 6 p.m. Osaka time (which is 4 a.m. Central time). Japan is 14 hours ahead of us so it was weird to leave Minneapolis on Sunday morning and get to Osaka on Monday night- it was like I skipped an entire day!
I stayed awake most of the flight so that I would sleep well when I got here- which I did! I can't remember the last time I've been that exhausted!
Osaka is a very busy city. It reminds me of New York City. The Japanese people are so nice that it almost seems like they are joking when they talk to you. They never stop smiling!
I found out today that there are 203 countries represented here. Our hotel is home to the USA and Canadian teams.
It is extremely hot here. It's been mid 90s with lots of humidity. And the money here is called Yen. The exchange rate is about 111 Yen to our $1 US dollar. So it feels weird to be carrying around like 26,000 Yen (which is like $250 US dollars).
Tomorrow I will venture out on their subway system (much like New York City) to pick up Amanda Thieschafer (our other volunteer coach) at the airport. It will be fun to have her here, we can't wait to explore the city and eat lots of Japanese food!
I don't compete for 10 days so she will be a nice distraction for me! That's it for now. I will keep you all updated on my journey through Japan!
-- Shani