The English translation is below
先日の日曜、地元のマラソン大会にQちゃんこと
高橋尚子（たかはしなおこ）さんがゲストとしていらっしゃいました！
私はフルマラソンは走れないので出場しなかったのですが
せっかくなのでQちゃんにも会いたいし、友人と応援に
行ってきました！
Qちゃんは、2000年のシドニーオリンピック女子マラソンの
金メダリストです！日本人女子陸上種目として
初金メダルという快挙でした
2001年のベルリンマラソンでは、当時の女子マラソン
世界新記録となる2時間19分46秒を樹立し、女性として
始めて2時間20分の壁を破りました
2008年に現役を引退し、現在はスポーツコメンター
マラソン解説者など広く活躍されています♪
というわけで今回は、国民栄誉賞を受賞し
日本スポーツ界では知らない人はいないであろう
Qちゃんのエピソードをご紹介します！
そもそもなぜQちゃんと呼ばれているのかというと
最初の就職先で、先輩たちの前で「オバケのQ太郎」の
モノマネをしたからだそうです。Q太郎とは
アニメのキャラクターで
こんなん、何をどうモノマネしたんでしょう
ちなみにこの作者は、ドラえもんと同じです！
Qそしてちゃんを語る時、絶対に外せないのは、
恩師、小出監督です。大学を卒業する時、すでに8社もの
実業チームから勧誘を受けていましたが、小出監督の指導に
魅力を感じ、全て断って小出監督に会いに「押しかけた」そうです
当時は多分、しごき、スパルタみたいな根性論の指導法が
主流だったのでしょうね。
小出監督の「褒めて伸ばす」という新しい指導法が、
自分の可能性を引き出してくれる、と信じ、自ら直談判という
積極的な行動に出たおかげで、弟子入りにつながりました
Qちゃんも、後で振り返った時に「小出監督との出会いは
金メダルより大きな勝利」だったと語っています
そんな監督の下でのびのびと練習に励み
監督が「調子はどうだ？」と聞けば「最高に悪いで〜す！」
と返すくらいのユーモアで返していました♪
正直に弱音も吐けたし、練習が辛い時はやめさせて
もらうなど、何でも話せるオープンな関係だったようです
豆大福をこよなく愛するQちゃんのモチベーションを上げ
プレッシャーを和らげるため、シドニー五輪で金メダルを
獲ったら「豆大福食べ放題」の約束が交わされたそうです
その甲斐あって
Qちゃんは、現役時代から引退後の市民マラソンの
ゲスト参加に至るまで、レース中に沿道の観客とハイタッチする
回数が群を抜いて多いことで知られています
単なるファンサービスではなく、彼女自身の精神的な
エネルギーチャージだったようです
普通は体力のロスになるようなことはしたくないし
ペースが狂うのも避けたいハズなのにな…と
まっ私も一応ランナーなのでねっ♪
分かるんですが、なかなかできることじゃないです
Qちゃんはこのマラソン大会でも、最後のランナーまで
ハイタッチで迎え入れる！とメッセージを伝えていました
で、応援の私たちは、ゴールの競技場に行けば
確実にQちゃんに会えるだろうと観客席のスタンドで
応援しながら待っていました
Qちゃんはランナーと一緒に走りながら応援していたらしく
競技場に到着したのはサブ5あたりがランナーが戻ってくる頃でした
これは次の日の新聞で見たんですけど、実際私たちが見えたのは
これが精一杯でした（笑）写真をピンチでかなり広げて切り取ってます
Qちゃんに会えたというより、遠くにいるQちゃんが見えた。。。
Qちゃんはハイタッチだけでなく、手をつないでゴールしたり
6時間以上かかってしまったランナーも暖かく迎えていました
うわ〜いいなぁ〜
一緒に行った友人はフルも走れるので、
「来年は出場する！」と意気込んでいました‼︎
来年1月、友人も私も大会に出場するのですが、
スイッチ入りましたよ〜〜！
This past Sunday, Naoko “Q-chan” Takahashi visited our local marathon as a special guest!
I can’t run a full marathon myself, so I didn’t take part, but since Q-chan was coming, I decided to go and cheer with a friend!
Q-chan won the gold medal in the women’s marathon at the 2000 Sydney Olympics — the very first Olympic gold ever won by a Japanese woman in track and field.
In 2001, at the Berlin Marathon, she set a then-world record of 2:19:46, becoming the first woman in history to break the 2-hour-20-minute barrier.
She retired from competition in 2008, and today she’s active in many roles — from sports commentator to marathon analyst.
So this time, I’d like to share a story about Q-chan, a national icon who even received the People’s Honor Award — someone anyone in Japan’s sports world would surely know.
Why is she called “Q-chan” in the first place? Apparently, at her first workplace, she once did an impression of Q-taro from “Obake no Q-tarō” in front of her seniors! Q-taro is a character from a classic anime — and honestly, I can’t imagine what kind of impression she did.
By the way, the creators of Q-taro are the same people who made Doraemon.
And you can’t talk about Q-chan without mentioning her legendary coach, Yoshio Koide. When she graduated from university, she had already received offers from eight corporate teams. But she felt drawn to Coach Koide’s philosophy, turned them all down, and quite literally showed up on his doorstep to ask him to take her on.
Back then, the mainstream coaching style in Japan was probably the old-school, tough-it-out, almost Spartan kind of training. But Koide’s approach — nurturing athletes by praising and encouraging them — felt fresh and full of possibility to her.
Believing that his style could bring out her best, she took the bold step of approaching him directly, and that determination led to him accepting her as his trainee.
Looking back later, Q-chan even said that “meeting Coach Koide was a victory far greater than winning the gold medal.”
Under Coach Koide’s guidance, she was able to train freely and stay relaxed. When he asked, “How are you feeling?”, she would jokingly reply, “I’m feeling absolutely terrible!” — that was their kind of humor.
She could be honest about her struggles, too. If practice felt overwhelming, she could tell him, and he would even let her take a break. They truly had an open, trusting relationship where she could talk about anything.
Q-chan absolutely loves mame-daifuku, and to keep her motivated — and to ease the pressure — she and Coach Koide made a promise: if she won gold at the Sydney Olympics, she’d get “all-you-can-eat mame-daifuku.”
And sure enough…
From her competitive days all the way to her post-retirement appearances at citizen marathons, Q-chan has been famous for one thing: she high-fives more spectators along the course than anyone else.
It wasn’t just fan service — it was her way of recharging mentally. Normally, runners want to avoid anything that might drain their energy or throw off their pace. I say this as a runner myself — it’s something most of us simply can’t do.
But Q-chan was different. At this marathon, too, she shared a message saying that she would keep giving high-fives all the way until the very last runner crossed the finish line.
So we figured the surest way to see Q-chan was to wait for her at the stadium where the runners finish. We sat in the stands, cheering and keeping an eye out for her.
It turned out she’d been running alongside the participants out on the course, encouraging them as she went, so she didn’t reach the stadium until around the time the sub-5-hour runners started coming in.
According to the newspaper the next day, Q-chan was doing all sorts of things out on the course… but what we actually saw was only this much. We zoomed in on the photo as far as our fingers would let us, and just barely caught her in the distance.
So rather than “meeting” her, it was more like “Oh! That tiny figure over there is Q-chan…”
She wasn’t just giving high-fives — she held hands with runners as they crossed the finish line, and even warmly welcomed those who took over six hours to complete the race. Seriously… how wonderful is that?
The friend who came with me actually can run full marathons, and she was fired up, saying, “I’m definitely running next year!”
We’re both taking part in a race this coming January, so… yeah, that totally switched something on in us!
