ISU

#SpeedSkating

Nao Kodaira (JPN) reacts during the national single distance championships in Nagano (JPN) @Aflo Sport

She trained for just one final race last summer. After an injury-hampered Olympic season last year, Nao Kodaira (JPN) decided to hang up her blades, but not before she had given it all on the ice one more time. On October 22, the 2018 Olympic Champion took her eighth consecutive Japanese national 500m title in a sold-out Nagano M-Wave, to conclude her long and glorious Speed Skating journey in style.

Nao Kodaira (JPN) competes during the national single distance championships in Nagano (JPN) @Aflo Sport

A total of 6,085 spectators showed up to celebrate Kodaira’s career. "I'd have started crying if I looked at everyone's faces,” said Kodaira to Kyodo News Agency. ”I just concentrated on the ice in front of me. I could be there as Nao Kodaira, the athlete, for the last time."

Kodaira finished the 500m in 37.49s, leaving Beijing Olympic silver medalist Miho Takagi (JPN) 0.69 adrift in second place. Former Japan Skating Federation President Seiko Hashimoto presented a bouquet to Kodaira as part of a retirement ceremony in which Kodaira's South Korean retired rival and friend Sang-Hwa Lee paid respect through a video message.

Vancouver debut

The 36-year-old made her Olympic debut at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games, taking a silver in the Team Pursuit event, where she came in 5th in the 1000m and 1500m, and 12th in the 500m. Despite this early success, it took Kodaira a while to catch up with the world’s fastest female sprinters, winning her career first World Cup race in Seoul (KOR) in November 2014.

In 2014 and 2015, she trained in the Netherlands under the guidance of former Dutch speed skater and Olympic Champion Marianne Timmer, who was present at her former pupil’s farewell race in Nagano last Saturday.

“What a special farewell Nao Kodaira got,” Timmer said in an Instragram post. “And even more special is that I was flown in to be present as a special guest. With a beautiful final 500m in 37.49s, the ‘Angry Cat’ skated her final lap. An emotional and special experience here in the packed speed skating temple M-Wave. It’s an honor and a privilege to be present.”

PyeongChang glory

Kodaria’s biggest successes came after she had returned to her homeland Japan. Training with coach Masahiro Yuki (JPN), she took over the reign in women’s sprinting from 500m world record holder and friend Lee Sang-Hwa (KOR). Kodaira remained unbeaten in 23 World Cup races from November 2016 to November 2019.

Gold medalist Nao Kodaira (JPN) celebrates during the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeonchong (KOR) @GettyImages

Winning 500m gold at the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeonchang was the jewel in Kodaira’s already impressive sprinting crown. She also took Olympic silver in the 1000m, the distance in which she held the world record between December 2017 and March 2019. Apart from her Olympic success, Kodaira also won two 500m World Single Distance titles (2017 and 2020) and two World Sprint titles (2017 and 2019). 

Redemption

Kodaira’s campaign to retain the 2018 Olympic 500m title in Beijing was hampered by an ankle injury. She even contemplated not competing at the 2022 Games but decided to give it a go anyway, finishing 17^th in the 500m and 10^th in the 1000m.

Nao Kodaira (JPN) competes during the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing (CHN) @GettyImages

Announcing her retirement in April 2022, Kodaira said: "I want to skate one more race while I have some control over my body, and I want to race my last race in my home of Shinshu (the name of the region Nagano is also known for)."

After winning the final race of her career, she told Japanese newspaper The Ashahi Shimbun: “I could skate in the setting I had dreamed of.” And she added: “I felt that (the last race) was a more valuable experience than winning the Olympic medal or trying to break world records.”