(REUTERS) – Japan’s former Olympic speed skating champion Nao Kodaira will retire from the game in October following a last race in her hometown of Nagano, the lengthy monitor speed skater mentioned on Tuesday (April 12).
The 35-year-old received Olympic gold within the ladies’s 500m in Pyeongchang 4 years in the past, in addition to a silver within the 1,000m.
She additionally received a silver within the group pursuit occasion in Vancouver 2010, alongside Masako Hozumi and Maki Tabata.
Kodaira had a disappointing outing on the Beijing Winter Games in February, ending seventeenth within the 500m and tenth within the 1,000m.
“I’m nervous about what I’m about to say,” Kodaira advised a information convention.
“I… will run the final race of my profession this October on the nationwide single distances championships.
“When I considered how lengthy life is, I didn’t need it to be solely about speed skating. I felt that now was round the fitting 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 received 500m gold on the World Single Distance Championships in 2017 and 2020.
