Contributed by SAPL Managing Director Mr Yoshikazu Ishikawa

I arrived in Sydney in May 2020. Sydney was the host of the 2000 Olympics, where Naoko Takahashi (retired Japanese marathon runner) became the first Japanese woman to win a gold medal in marathon.

In 2005, I was pursuing a business in the San Cristobal zinc/silver mine in Bolivia, and in November that year, we reached a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with a US company. However, the agreement was cancelled due to a sharp rise in zinc/silver prices caused by strong demand from China. Nevertheless, we did not give up and I continued to visit the company in the US every month.

The following April, after another futile attempt, I was on my way home from Denver, Colorado. As I was in transit in Los Angeles, I ran into Naoko Takahashi in the airport lounge, who was on her way home after training in Boulder, Colorado. She had won the gold medal in Sydney, but was unsuccessful in the Athens Olympics selection and was hoping to resurrect at the upcoming Beijing Olympics.

On the same flight to Narita, I asked her to sign an autograph of encouragement for me.  As I hadn’t seen any light in my dealings since the cancellation of the MOU, I felt like praying with Ms Takahashi, who was training hard to make a comeback.  Strangely enough, the US company’s attitude changed immediately after that, and we reached a basic agreement about a month and a half later, and we were able to take part in the project in September 2006.

SAPL Managing Director Mr Yoshikazu Ishikawa with his treasured autograph from
Ms Naoko Takahashi

A closer look at the autograph

Fifteen years later, around the time of my appointment to SAPL, I was talking to a number of people about Sydney, and the subject of Naoko Takahashi came up.

In September 2000, I was watching the marathon on TV and I remember this moment very well: after 26km, Takahashi and Lidia Simon from Romania broke away from the others and went side by side until the 34km mark.  That was when Takahashi threw her sunglasses with her right hand as she ran on downhill, stepping up a gear all the way to cross the finish line well ahead of Simon. It was a very impressive moment.

One of the stories I heard was that Mr Haga, GM of DX Centre, who at the time was stationed in Sydney as President of the Ford Dealer Group (Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne), had been instrumental in getting Takahashi’s sunglasses into the hands of her father who was along the road. It just so happened that the 34km mark was right behind the Ford dealership (at Five Dock) and Mr Haga was waiting for the runners to pass with his son where Naoko Takahashi’s father was also watching the race. When she saw her father, Takahashi threw her sunglasses in his direction.  At first, a volunteer on the street picked it up, but after Mr Haga explained the situation, the sunglasses were finally given to her father.

This time in 2021, I was watching the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics on TV from Sydney, where Naoko Takahashi was the bearer of the Japanese flag. Coincidentally, on the day of the opening ceremony, it was announced in Japan that the 2032 Olympics would be held in Brisbane, Australia. It seems that many things are connected.

Besides this, I have felt connected with many people since I arrived in Sydney.  One of SAPL’s strengths is the relationships we have built with people in Steel Products, Power Infrastructure, Mineral Resources & Energy, Chemicals, Carbon Products, Automotive, Food, Timber and many other businesses, and we will continue to build on this to lead the company to its growth.