Track Beauty of the Week: Ayako Kimura 木村 文子

Ayako Kimura 木村 文子 is this week's Track Beauty!

Photo from JAAF.org

Kimura is an elite-level Japanese hurdler. She has a personal best of 13.04s in the 100m hurdles, [1] set in April 2012. Ayako was just four-hundredths of a second from Yvonne Kanazawa's 金沢　イボンヌ 12-year old national senior record and one-hundredth of a second faster than Asuka Terada's 寺田　明日香 career best performance in 2009. 

Ayako's breakout year came in 2010, when she lowered her 2009 best of 13.74s to 13.28s. [2] Her improvement has been gradual in the subsequent years, running 13.19s in 2011 before her impressive performance in Hiroshima last April.

However, the Japanese champion failed to replicate her form at the London Olympic Games. Kimura crashed out of the heats with a below-par clocking of 13.75s. Nevertheless, the future looks bright for the promising Kimura. She has a relatively clean and straighforward hurdling technique, with none of the glaring technical deficiencies common amongst her peers. The London Olympics, after all, was just her first appearance in the world stage.

Ayako Kimura could be the next big thing in Asian hurdling.

References

1. "Ayako Kimura." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayako_Kimura. Retrieved 11-3-2012.
2. "木村 文 子 Ayako Kimura." http://www.jaaf.or.jp/fan/player/wom083.php. Retrieved 11-3-2012.

Saori Kimura 木村 沙織 (JPN, Volleyball)

Saori Kimura 木村 沙織 is a veteran Japanese volleyball player. Since making her international debut in 2003, Kimura has competed in three editions of the Volleyball World Championships and two Olympic Games.

Photo from m-louis

Soari was just in high school when she made her maiden Olympics appearance in Athens back in 2004. She was part of the Japanese team that won a bronze medal at the 2010 World Championships. The same year, she was adjudged as Best Scorer at the 2010 FIVB World Grand Prix.

The talented spiker has won several awards in Japan's domestic professional league. As a 20-year old, Saori was cited as Newcomer of the Year. The spiker then won two Most Valuable Player awards in 2009 and 2010, on top of consistent appearances in the Best Six team of the Women's Volleyball Premiere League.

Kimura plays her club volleyball with the Toray Arrows 東レ・アローズ. Since 2007, the team has garnered a total of nine titles from various high level tournaments.

Source:
Saori's Toray Arrows Profile
Soari's Wikipedia Profile

Kaori Kodaira 小平 花織 (JPN, Volleyball)

Kaori Kodaira 小平 花織 plays the wing position for Japanese volleyball club Toray Arrows 東レ・アローズ. The Arrows, a many-time V-League champion, lost a tightly-contested match against Tianjin at the recently concluded Asian Women's Club Volleyball Championship. Kodaira played magnificently in that five-setter, with her timely daredevil spikes against the taller Chinese defense.

 Kaori in Action (Photo from Toray Arrows website)

The 22-year old first took up volleyball in her elementary school days. She attended the Saki Minemura junior high school. As a high school student in Tokai University, she competed at the 2008 Asian Junior Championships. 

Kaori joined Toray in 2009, bolstering the club's offensive arsenal. 

Sources: 

Kaori's Toray Arrows profile 

Wikipedia