"It feels like the war."
Kawauchi was the top Japanese finisher at 3rd overall in 2:09:11 at last December's Fukuoka International Marathon, the first domestic selection race for the London World Championships team. His ticket to London was in his hand. At a press conference later in March, JAAF marathon development project leader Toshihiko Seko, 60, told him, "I want you to continue until the Tokyo Olympics." Kawauchi angrily retorted, "The Tokyo Olympics aren't the be-all and end-all for everyone!" What exactly did he mean?
"I think it's strange that everyone is totally fixated on the Tokyo Olympics," Kawauchi explained. "People are different at different ages. Runners in their late 30s now will be about 40 in three years, and the high schoolers focused on Tokyo will only be college students. I don't like this environment of, 'Well, we don't have any choice except to say that we're aiming for Tokyo.' It feels a bit like during the war era. There's this Great Cause called the Tokyo Olympics, and everyone has to march in that direction. If you step out of line even just a tiny bit people say, 'You're a traitor!' I hate that kind of atmosphere. That's why I said that to Seko."
The popular image of Kawauchi is of him being on the verge of collapse at the end of a race, but that is a testament to being focused on each and every race.
"I really hate this mindset of London being a springboard toward Tokyo," he said, "this apparent idea that if the Tokyo Olympics are the most important thing then it's OK to just treat London as a throwaway effort. Some of us want to bring everything to the line in London, and nobody can say for sure that they're still going to be on the scene in three or four years. It's so happened that I've been able to be at the top of the game for almost seven years now since 2011, but I could get an injury that I can't recover from at any time. Who knows what will happen by three years from now?
"Lots of people say they have a three or four-year plan, but I think in terms of at most one or two years ahead, treating each race before me as important, and running with a sense of purpose in every one of them. I don't think that's what the Japanese national team is all about. Whether it's the World Championships or the Olympics, if you're representing Japan you're representing Japan. When you're chosen for the team there are loads of people who weren't chosen, so instead of being fixated on what comes after that I think you need to be focused on the race that's right there in front of you, the World Championships, and not saying, 'Tokyo! Tokyo!'"