Javelin star Kitaguchi finds new home in small Czech town

Reigning Olympic and world javelin champion Haruka Kitaguchi has found a new home in a remote corner of the Czech Republic, a country that is home to several javelin legends.

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The 27-year-old Japanese is getting ready for next month's world championships in Tokyo in the western Czech town of Domazlice.

"I can concentrate on training here. And the weather is better than in Tokyo which is too hot for me," Kitaguchi told AFP at the local training centre on a scorching hot Czech summer day.

She ended up in the cosy historic town after teaming up with local coach David Sekerak at a training seminar in Finland in 2018.

Former javelin thrower Sekerak knew that she had won the world youth championships in 2015.

"She was a big woman and I could see she had something in her," he added, hailing her self-discipline. Kitaguchi followed him to the country of three-time Olympic javelin champion Jan Zelezny and two-time Olympic winner Barbora Spotakova.

"When I came for the first time, my coach said, today you can throw with my friend," Kitaguchi said.