Mizuho Nasukawa, one of seven Japanese athletes added to the elite women's field for Sunday, described how she reached "emotional breaking point" after hearing of the death of her high school athletics team-mate and friend.

And Yukiko Akaba (pictured), sixth in last year's London race, said she had been too upset to train properly for this year's event after her house was almost destroyed by the Japanese earthquake just a month after she had endured the earthquake which left hundreds dead in Christchurch while she was training there.

Akaba's husband and coach, Shuhei, added that the couple were worried about returning to their house with their four-year-old daughter, Yuna, as it is only 70 miles away from the nearest stricken nuclear reactor and there are fears of radiation.

Nasukawa, her eyes sparkling with tears, described how her friend Taiko Osawa, a former team mate in Ekiden relay running, had been found dead in the wreckage of her house with her arms around one of her children, who was also dead. Her husband and a second child escaped with their lives.

"We had run in track and field events together at school," she said.

"Her home was destroyed and sadly she passed away.

"It was a spiritual and emotional breaking point for me," added Nasukawa, whose home town of Oshu is in the Iwate prefecture, on of the three most severely affected by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

"I would not have had the strength to carry on running, but I got such support from the people around me.

"I realised that running in London would be the best thing I could do, and the main reason I am running on Sunday is for Taiko."

Akaba, one of nine Japanese athletes training in Christchurch in February, described her alarm when that earthquake hit.

"We had just finished lunch when it started," she recalled.

"Our first thought was to escape from the building to a nearby park.

"It was very frightening – a scary experience."


Akaba, whose daughter was being looked after by her husband's parents during their trip, returned to train on Japan's south island when the Japanese disaster occurred.

Concerned about her daughter, she contacted the grandparents and her husband flew up to collect Yuna and bring her back to the southern training base.

"Our house was not destroyed, but we still have to have a structural examination," Shuhei said.

"Of course we are also worried about the possible effect of radiation. Yuna is with us now and we are just staying away from the area at the moment."

Azusa Nojiri, who was also in Christchurch, added that several students from her home town who had been on an educational exchange to New Zealand were killed when the building they were in collapsed.

Yurika Nakamura added: "We are all very grateful to the London organisers for adding us to the field.

"We hope that by running to our best on Sunday it will help to recover the Japanese spirit for people to see us competing."

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