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Full name |
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Born | Hino, Tokyo, Japan | 12 February 1971|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.69 m (5 ft 6+1⁄2 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 63 kg (139 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Current team | Retired | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Discipline | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Role | Rider | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Professional teams | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2005 | Sumita Ravanello Pearl Izumi | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2008–2010 | Bridgestone–Anchor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2013 | Gruppo–Acqua–Tama | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Major wins | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese National Time Trial Championships (1998, 2004, 2005) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Makoto Iijima (飯島 誠, Iijima Makoto, born February 12, 1971) is a Japanese former professional road and track cyclist.[1] Considered 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]
Racing career
[edit]Iijima was born in Hino, Tokyo.
Amateur years
[edit]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 the 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] In the 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
[edit]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 winner Japanese National Time Trial Championships in the same year.
As a two-year free 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-kilometre (16-mile) 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 team time trial, finishing ahead of the Chinese team by more than two minutes.[10]
Major results
[edit]- 1998
- 1st
Time trial, National Road Championships
- 2nd Road race, Asian Games
- 1999
- 2nd Time trial, National Road Championships
- 2001
- 1st Stage 4 Perlis Open
- 2002
- Asian Track Championships
- 1st Points race
- 2nd Elimination race
- 2nd Madison, Asian Games
- 3rd Points race, UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics, Moscow
- 2003
- 2nd Time trial, National Road Championships
- 2004
- Asian Track Championships
- 1st Points race
- 2nd Elimination race
- 1st
Time trial, National Road Championships
- 2005
- 1st
Time trial, National Road Championships
- Asian Track Championships
- 3rd Points race
- 3rd Team pursuit
- 2006
- Asian Cycling Championships
- 1st Points race
- 3rd Time trial
- Tour de East Java
- 1st Stages 1 & 5
- 1st Stage 3 Tour de Kumano
- 1st Stage 3 Tour d'Indonesia
- 2nd Time trial, National Road Championships
- Asian Games
- 4th Points race
- 6th Road race
- 2007
- 1st Stage 1 Jelajah Malaysia
- 1st Stage 3 Tour de Kumano
- Asian Track Championships
- 2nd Madison
- 3rd Points race
- 2008
- 3rd Team pursuit, Asian Track Championships
- 8th Points race, Olympic Games
- 2009
- 1st Team time trial, East Asian Games
- 1st Stage 1 Jelajah Malaysia
- National Road Championships
- 2nd Time trial
- 7th Road race
- 10th Overall Tour de Okinawa
- 2010
- National Road Championships
- 3rd Time trial
- 8th Road race
- 10th Points race, UCI Track Cycling World Championships
- 2012
- 8th JBCF Simofusa Criterium
- 2013
- 2nd JBCF Makuhari Criterium
References
[edit]- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Makoto Iijima". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Hossein powers to victory in Stage Three". The Star. 22 April 2009. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
- ^ "Sydney 2000: Track Cycling – Men's Points Race" (PDF). Sydney 2000. LA84 Foundation. p. 48. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 July 2017. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
- ^ "Asian Games roundup: Japanese Murofushi repeats as hammer champion". Sports Illustrated. CNN. 8 October 2002. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
- ^ "Cycling: Men's Points Race". Athens 2004. BBC Sport. 15 August 2004. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
- ^ "Men's Points Race". Beijing 2008. NBC Olympics. Archived from the original on 19 August 2012. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
- ^ "Llaneras scores points gold". Velo News. 16 August 2008. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
- ^ "Newly-Developed Full Carbon Model Acclaimed as Japan's Top-Quality Road Racer now Available". Bridgestone. 29 October 2008. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
- ^ "Sunshine and the century mark is passed". Government of Hong Kong. 11 December 2009. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
External links
[edit]- NBC 2008 Olympics profile
- Makoto Iijima at ProCyclingStats
- Makoto Iijima at Cycling Archives