Makoto Iijima

Makoto Iijima
Personal information
Full name Makoto Iijima
Born (1971-02-12) 12 February 1971
Hino, Tokyo, Japan
Height 1.69 m (5 ft 6 1⁄2 in)
Weight 63 kg (139 lb)
Team information
Current team Gruppo-Acqua-Tama
Discipline Road, track
Role Rider
Professional team(s)
2005 Sumita Ravanello Pearl Izumi
2008–2010 Bridgestone–Anchor
2013 Gruppo-Acqua-Tama
Major wins
Medal record
Representing  Japan
Men's road cycling
Asian Games
1998 Bangkok Road race
Asian Championships
2006 Kuala Lumpur Time trial
Men's track cycling
Asian Games
2002 Busan Points race
Asian Championships
2002 Bangkok Points race
2006 Kuala Lumpur Points race
2002 Bangkok Elimination race
2004 Yokkaichi Elimination race
2007 Bangkok Madison
2005 Ludhiana Points race
2005 Ludhiana Team pursuit
2007 Bangkok Points race
2008 Nara Team pursuit
Infobox last updated on
October 15, 2013

Makoto Iijima (飯島 誠 Iijima Makoto, born February 12, 1971 in Hino, Tokyo) is a Japanese professional road and track cyclist.[1] Considered as one of Japan's most successful cyclists in his decade, Iijima has claimed a total of nine track cycling medals (two golds, three silver, and four bronze) at the Asian Championships, two silvers at the Asian Games (1998 and 2002), and three national time trial titles at the Japanese Championships (1998, 2004, and 2005). He also represented his nation Japan in three editions of the Olympic Games (2000, 2004, and 2008). He announced his retirement from professional cycling in October 2010 as a member of the Bridgestone–Anchor team,[2][3] but continues to ride occasionally for the non-professional team Gruppo-Acqua-Tama.

Racing career

Amateur years

Despite earning his first career medal in road racing at the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand, Iijima made his official debut, as a 29-year-old, at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, where he finished sixteenth in the men's points race with a total score of six sprint points.[4]

At the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, Iijima paired up with Shinichi Fukushima to grab a silver medal in men's madison on 11 points, trailing behind the South Korean duo Suh Seok-Kyu and 2000 Olympian Cho Ho-Sung by an ample, twenty-seven point margin after ten intermediate sprint laps.[5] On that same year, he outsprinted his brother Noriyuki Iijima and Hong Kong's Wong Kam Po to take the men's points race title at the Asian Championships in Bangkok, Thailand.

When he competed for the second time at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Iijima managed to finish the men's points race successfully in sixteenth place with 13 points, matching his position from Sydney four years earlier in the process.[6]

Professional career

Iijima turned professional as a road rider in 2005, and eventually stayed with Sumita Ravanello Pearl Izumi for one cycling season, before he left himself without a contract. He was also crowned the Japanese national time trial champion within the same year.

As a two-year freelance agent, Iijima redrafted his efforts to edge out Iran's Hossein Askari and Hong Kong's Cheung King Wai for his second career gold in the men's point race at the 2006 Asian Cycling Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, adding a bronze in the men's time trial to his career resume. Later that year, at the Asian Games in Doha, Iijima narrowly missed the podium with a fourth-place finish in the points race (a total of ten) and sixth in the men's road race (3:45:05).

Eight years after his first Olympics, Iijima qualified for his third Japanese squad, as a 37-year-old and a cycling team captain, in the men's points race at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing by receiving a berth from the UCI Track World Rankings. Iijima picked up a total of 23 points, and lapped the field once to score a career-high eighth place in a 25-km sprint race.[7][8] Strong results on his third Olympic bid landed him a spot on the Bridgestone–Anchor pro cycling team for three annual seasons.[9]

At the 2009 East Asian Games in Macau, Iijima delivered the Japanese foursome of Kazuo Inoue, Kazuhiro Mori and Hayato Yoshida a gold-medal time of 1:38:38.84 in the men's time trial, finishing ahead of the Chinese team by more than two minutes.[10]

Career highlights

1998
1st Japanese Championships (ITT), Japan
2nd, silver medalist(s) Asian Games (Road race), Bangkok (THA)
1999
2nd Japanese Championships (ITT), Japan
2nd Stage 2, Tour de Hokkaido, Nakashibetsu, Hokkaido (JPN)
2nd Stage 5, Tour de Hokkaido, Sapporo (JPN)
2nd Stage 6, Tour of Japan, Japan
3rd Stage 1, Tour de Hokkaido, Kitami, Hokkaido (JPN)
2000
16th Olympic Games (Points race), Sydney (AUS)
2001
1st Stage 4, Perlis Open, Malaysia
2002
1st, gold medalist(s) Asian Championships (Points race), Bangkok (THA)
2nd, silver medalist(s) Asian Championships (Elimination race), Bangkok (THA)
2nd, silver medalist(s) Asian Games (Madison), Busan (KOR)
3rd, bronze medalist(s) Stage 3, UCI World Cup (Points race), Moscow (RUS)
3rd Prologue, Tour de Hokkaido, Kushiro, Hokkaido (JPN)
3rd Stage 1, Tour of Japan, Japan
3rd Stage 6, Tour of Japan, Tokyo (JPN)
2003
2nd Japanese Championships (ITT), Japan
2004
1st Japanese Championships (ITT), Japan
1st, gold medalist(s) Asian Championships (Points race), Yokkaichi, Mie (JPN)
2nd, silver medalist(s) Asian Championships (Elimination race), Yokkaichi, Mie (JPN)
16th Olympic Games (Points race), Athens (GRE)
2005
1st Japanese Championships (ITT), Japan
2nd Stage 3, Tour of South China Sea, Hong Kong
3rd, bronze medalist(s) Asian Championships (Points race), Ludhiana (IND)
3rd, bronze medalist(s) Asian Championships (Team pursuit), Ludhiana (IND)
2006
1st, gold medalist(s) Asian Championships (Points race), Kuala Lumpur (MAS)
1st Stage 1, Tour de East Java, Indonesia
1st Stage 3, Tour de Kumano, Japan
1st Stage 3, Tour d'Indonesia, Purwokerto (INA)
1st Stage 5, Tour de East Java, Surabaya (INA)
2nd Japanese Championships (ITT), Japan
2nd Stage 6, Tour d'Indonesia, Indonesia
3rd, bronze medalist(s) Asian Championships (ITT), Kuala Lumpur (MAS)
4th Asian Games (Points race), Doha (QAT)
6th Asian Games (Road race), Doha (QAT)
2007
1st Stage 1, Jelajah Malaysia, Malaysia
1st Stage 3, Tour de Kumano, Taiji, Wakayama (JPN)
2nd, silver medalist(s) Asian Championships (Madison), Bangkok (THA)
3rd, bronze medalist(s) Asian Championships (Points race), Bangkok (THA)
3rd Stage 4, Tour de Hokkaido, Japan
3rd Stage 6, Tour of South China Sea, Hong Kong
2008
3rd, bronze medalist(s) Asian Championships (Team pursuit), Nara (JPN)
8th Olympic Games (Points race), Beijing (CHN)
2009
1st, gold medalist(s) East Asian Games (TTT), Macau (CHN)
1st Stage 1, Jelajah Malaysia, Ipoh (MAS)
2nd Japanese Championships (ITT), Japan
7th Japanese Championships (Road), Mihara, Hiroshima (JPN)
10th Overall, Tour de Okinawa, Japan
6th Stage 2
2010
3rd Japanese Championships (ITT), Akita (JPN)
8th Japanese Championships (Road), Hiroshima (JPN)
10th UCI World Championships (Points race), Copenhagen (DEN)
2012
3rd Part 1, JBCF Simofusa Criterium, Japan
8th, JBCF Simofusa Criterium, Japan
2013
2nd, JBCF Makuhari Criterium, Chiba (JPN)

References

  1. ↑ "Makoto Iijima". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
  2. ↑ ブリヂストン・アンカーの飯島誠が引退を発表. Cyclowired (in Japanese). Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  3. ↑ "Hossein powers to victory in Stage Three". The Star (Malaysia). 22 April 2009. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
  4. ↑ "Sydney 2000: Track Cycling – Men's Points Race" (PDF). Sydney 2000. LA84 Foundation. p. 48. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
  5. ↑ "Asian Games roundup: Japanese Murofushi repeats as hammer champion". Sports Illustrated. CNN. 8 October 2002. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
  6. ↑ "Cycling: Men's Points Race". Athens 2004. BBC Sport. 15 August 2004. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  7. ↑ "Men's Points Race". Beijing 2008. NBC Olympics. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
  8. ↑ "Llaneras scores points gold". Velo News. 16 August 2008. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
  9. ↑ "Newly-Developed Full Carbon Model Acclaimed as Japan's Top-Quality Road Racer now Available". Bridgestone. 29 October 2008. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
  10. ↑ "Sunshine and the century mark is passed". Government of Hong Kong. 11 December 2009. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
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