Comedian Neko rejected as Cambodian entrant in Olympic marathon

May 09, 2012

PHNOM PENH (Kyodo) -- Japan-born comedian Hiroshi Neko, Cambodia's nominee to represent it in the Olympic marathon in London this summer, has been rejected by the world ruling body for track and field, which says he is not yet eligible to represent Cambodia.

The rejection by the International Association of Athletics Federations was conveyed in a letter to Pen Vuthy, secretary general of the Khmer Amateur Athletes Federation. A copy of the letter was obtained by Kyodo News on Tuesday.

It says Neko ''will be eligible to represent Cambodia in international competitions under IAAF rules starting from Oct. 18 2012,'' suggesting he is ineligible before that date.

The 34-year-old Neko, whose real name is Kuniaki Takizaki, was born in Japan and became a naturalized Cambodian citizen in late 2011 after competing in international half marathons there, which won him many fans in Cambodia.

Olympics no go for Neko

Cambodian distance runner Hem Bunting (c) celebrates his victory in the 2011 Phnom Penh Half Marathon alongside second placed Neko Hiroshi (r) and Kieng Samorn in third. Photograph: Sreng Meng Srun/Phnom Penh Post

Tuesday, 08 May 2012
Dan Riley and Chhorn Norn
The Phnom Penh Post

The National Olympic Committee of Cambodia’s controversial choice of marathon runner for the 2012 Summer Olympics looks set to miss out on a trip to London after the International Association of Athletics Federations ruled him ineligible, NOCC officials revealed earlier today.

Japan-born professional comedian Kuniaki Takizaki, more commonly known by his stage name Neko Hiroshi, had been given the nod by the NOCC to join their delegation as one of five wildcards granted by the International Olympics Committee to participate in London.

However, a fierce media backlash in his homeland had brought the issue of nationality to the IAAF, which in turn spoke with Cambodia’s governing body, the Khmer Amateur Athletics Federation, over the past few weeks to help clarify Neko’s status in the Kingdom.

An Olympic Charter by-law regarding athletes who have never officially represented their country of birth offered the NOCC the opportunity to allow the Japanese man to be part of their 2012 Olympic team providing he obtained Cambodian citizenship at least a year prior to competing.

Athletics: Comedian runs away with Cambodia’s Olympic hopes

Hem Bunting (Photo: BBC News)

Sunday, May 06, 2012
AFP

“I’m a son of Cambodians. I was born in Cambodia. I tried to find sponsors, to get training abroad but for what?”

PHNOM PENH: Cambodia has selected an eccentric Japanese comedian to compete in the men’s marathon at the 2012 Olympic Games – but the country’s best long-distance runner is not amused. His record time may be seven minutes faster than that of Japan-born television star Kuniaki Takizaki, mostly known for his quirky cat impressions, but Cambodian athlete Hem Bunting will not be competing in London in August. The 27-year-old quit the national team in a huff last year after complaining about training conditions and falling out with the national athletics federation, prompting the body to tap Takizaki for a wild card to the Games.

But the move has proved controversial in both countries, setting Internet forums abuzz with critics bemoaning Takizaki’s hasty nationality change late last year and arguing that Cambodia should be nurturing homegrown talent. “I wasn’t happy when I heard that the National Olympic Committee gave the wild card to Neko,” Bunting told AFP, referring to Takizaki’s stage name Neko Hiroshi, which translates as Hiroshi The Cat. “I see it as an injustice. Even though they’re not sending me to the Olympics, they should choose qualified Cambodians,” he said as he laced up his shoes for an afternoon run at the Olympic Stadium in the capital Phnom Penh. Bunting’s last hope to get to the Olympics under his own steam was dashed at the Paris marathon last month when he failed to meet the qualifying time that would have earned him an automatic berth. He ran a personal best and set a new Cambodian record of 2:23:29 for the 42.2-kilometre course, but fell short of the required time of 2:18.

Japanese comedian Hiroshi Neko should run with respect for adopted Cambodia

Hem Bunting sleeps on cardboard in his room

April 23, 2012
By Hiroshi Ochiai, Editorial Board
Mainichi Japan

Japanese comedian Hiroshi Neko, who acquired Cambodian citizenship in order to appear in the London Olympics, is being exposed to criticism over his decision. Since changing his nationality last fall, he continues to live based out of Japan, and there is no end to those calling it a cheap move to use citizenship as a way to compete in the Olympics.

On March 25, the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia announced that it had chosen Neko as the country's men's marathon representative. Neko's best record is 2 hours, 30 minutes and 26 seconds, a time over the B-class entry standard of 2 hours and 18 minutes. However, for Olympic track and field events, if there are no athletes who beat the entry standards for any of the events, then an exception allows one male and one female athlete to each compete in one event. This exception allows Neko to compete.

Commenting on the controversial situation, Olympic marathon medalist Yuko Arimori, who has supported Cambodia for many years through running events and other methods, was quoted as saying with a tearful voice, "When I think of the feelings of the young athlete who is giving up his position to a Japanese, I feel frustration." Neko has acknowledged the criticism against him, saying, "There is a lot of tough criticism, like asking what the Cambodian people think."

Controversy deepens over Neko's selection [-Money talks for Hiroshi Neko]

Hem Bunting

Hiroshi Neko

Apr. 17, 2012
Jiji-Daily Yomiuri (Japan)

MOSCOW--Cambodia's controversial decision to have a Japanese-born comedian represent the country in the men's marathon at the London Olympics took another twist when a native-born runner and rival ran a better time at Sunday's Paris Marathon.

Hem Bunting, who represented Cambodia at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, finished 42nd in Paris in a national-record 2 hours 23 minutes 29 seconds--nearly seven minutes better than Hiroshi Neko's best time.

Neko, whose real name is Kuniaki Takizaki, became a Cambodian citizen in order to realize his dream of running in the London Olympics.

"I don't know if I can go to London, but I still want to go," Bunting was reported as saying. "Neko is slower than me. It is not fair."

However, Cambodia Olympic Commitee secretary general Vath Chamroeun said that even though Bunting ran a superior time, he would not be selected for the Olympic team.

Bunting, who has run in numerous major meets for his country, had a falling out with the national athletics federation over the quality of training conditions in the Southeast Asian nation and left the national team last year.

Olympics: Comedian Neko's hopes of competing at Olympics in doubt

Hiroshi Neko

April 13, 2012

PHNOM PENH (Kyodo) -- Comedian Hiroshi Neko's hopes of competing in the men's marathon at the London Olympics could be in jeopardy after the International Association of Athletics Federations raised doubts over his eligibility to represent Cambodia, sources close to the matter said Thursday.

The 34-year-old Neko, whose real name is Kuniaki Takizaki, was born in Japan and became a naturalized Cambodian citizen in late 2011 after competing in several international half-marathons there, which won him many fans throughout the country.

But the IAAF, the world ruling body for track and field, has from this year implemented new rules pertaining to athletes with new nationalities and no previous experience representing their adopted country in international competition.

One of the rules stipulates that in the event at least one year has not passed since the athlete gained nationality, the athlete must have continually resided in their adopted country, or be given special permission by the IAAF executive committee.

Ly Nary dreams of Olympics berth in women's marathon

Ly Nary runs around the track at Olympic Stadium during her early- morning training session Wednesday. (Photo by: Uy Nousereimony)
Ly Nary stands on the podium in first place after winning the Kep half-marathon on March 7 this year. (Photo Supplied )

Thursday, 08 April 2010
Julie Masis
The Phnom Penh Post

Cambodia’s only female marathon runner, Ly Nary, recalls her troubled childhood, escape to France and return to her birthland along the road to Olympic aspirations

LY Nary sets her alarm for 4:45am every morning, eats a single banana and drinks a cup of coffee before leaving the house. You have to start early, explains the 37-year-old, because after 7am the heat becomes too intense. In the afternoon, she hits the gym for another two hours of exercise on the treadmill and exercise bike.

She is not the only regular early-morning visitor to the stadium, but she is the first, and indeed only, Cambodian woman marathon runner (42-kilometre race runner) according to officials at the Cambodian Amateur Athletics Federation and the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia.

Last year, Ly Nary won a prize for being the fastest runner in her age group in the Khon Kaen International Marathon in Thailand and also completed the New York City marathon. Domestically, she triumphed in this year’s annual Valentine’s Day race in Phnom Penh, as well as the inaugural half-marathon in Kep - organized by the NGO Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia on March 7. In the Angkor Wat International Half Marathon in Siem Reap last December, she finished first out of the Cambodian women.

Ly Nary may also be the only female Cambodian athlete with a post-doctorate degree, having written a thesis on drug resistance to HIV/AIDS medication. She originally started running to raise money for HIV/AIDS.

However, everything could have been very different.

Nary recalls the extreme hardship of growing up as a young child in Cambodia in the seventies, which included nearly starving to death. More than half of her siblings passed away, including one brother who died from tetanus in a refugee camp.

At the age of nine and weighing just 22 kilograms, she was sent on her own to France to live with distant relatives. “I have pictures,” she says. “I was all skinny.” Later, the relatives would hand her over to the Red Cross, and she was eventually taken in by a French family.

When she was 26, Nary decided to come back to Cambodia to help the country of her birth and to locate her biological mother. She found her, and four surviving brothers and sisters out of the 11 or 12 that she claims had been born. But all they could do was look at each other. After living the majority of her life in France, Nary had forgotten how to speak Khmer. She has since relearned, although people still mistake her as a foreigner.

“Now I’ve been here for nine years,” she remarked.

Ly Nary is currently training for the marathon in Phuket, Thailand, scheduled for June 13, as well as for this year’s annual New York marathon on November 7 and next year’s Boston marathon in April. But her biggest goal is to be Cambodia’s first woman to run a marathon at the Olympics, the next of which will be held in London in 2012.

“When I signed up as a Cambodian woman at the [Athletics] Federation, they were surprised,” Nary recalls. “They said they never have had any Cambodian women running marathons. That imprinted itself in my head.”

According to sports-reference.com, a Web site that provides sports statistics, 30 Cambodian men and six women have participated in the Olympics since 1956, with the Kingdom’s participation declining significantly after the civil war. Only four Cambodian athletes attended the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing – competing in two sports: athletics and swimming.

“I’m very, very excited because Cambodia now has a woman who runs long distances,” said Pov Sitha, a coach at Cambodia’s Amateur Athletic Federation.

Ly Nary says she wants to inspire other Cambodian women to excel in sports by setting an example. Running marathons can help a woman become more independent and self-confident, she asserts.

“Even at the stadium, just by looking at me run, girls want to run,” she said, remembering one middle-aged mother who told her she wanted to lose weight and become a runner. The advice Nary gave her was simple. “Go slow at your own pace in the beginning, step by step, but don’t give up.”

If Nary is selected for the games, she says she wants to spend at least three months in Kenya, running up and down hills. For the meantime, she is sticking to her routine in Phnom Penh.

However, it is not always easy. The land is flat and the roads are clogged with traffic. On a recent long-distance run, the tuk-tuk that was carrying her water fell into a drainage ditch. And she has no coach – because there are no coaches for long distance runners in Cambodia. Nary trains herself using a book.

However, she is not giving up. After pulling her leg muscle recently, she took aspirin but continued to train.

“Sometimes I feel if I get hit by a car and I cannot run, I will be miserable,” she noted. “[Running] is the only thing that makes me happy.”

Nary funds her own training and equipment, but notes the difficulties that other female athletes face with many struggling to purchase decent running shoes. According to Nary, some get trainers from sponsors, some buy second hand pairs while some have to make do running barefoot.

There are currently no full length marathon races organised in Cambodia.

Cambodian marathoner running through poverty

Cambodian marathoner Hem Bunting (Photo: BBC)

Thu Aug 7, 2008
By Ek Madra

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodia's Hem Bunting is certain his rivals' preparations for the Beijing Olympics marathon would have been a lot different to his.

Unlike his fellow athletes, Bunting has no coach or sponsor and trains on the busy potholed streets of the impoverished nation's capital Phnom Penh.

He accepts he has to do it all by himself.

"I have been mostly training alone," Bunting told Reuters after a hazardous jog dodging potholes and motorcycles.

"I sometimes can't find a good place to practice because our national stadium is always being used by footballers.

"I've been doing this four years, but I do it because I love to run," added Bunting, whose best time is 24 minutes shy of the marathon world record.

Born to a peasant family in a remote province of northeastern Cambodia 23 years ago, Bunting is one of only four athletes representing the war-scarred Southeast Asian nation in Beijing.

He lives off just $30 a month and the $10 running shoes which helped him win two Southeast Asian Games medals last year have seen better days.

LONELY RUNS

"I think the one that costs $200 would be more suitable for an Olympic marathon," added Bunting, who said his energetic puppy sometimes joins him on his otherwise lonely runs.

"I have no money, what can I do?"

Cambodia has never won an Olympic medal and its greatest sporting success came in 1970 when its athletes won two silvers and three bronzes at the Asian Games in Bangkok.

A brutal civil war and a subsequent Olympic ban ensured there were no more after that.

Although a generous gesture, it is unlikely long-serving Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen will have to pay the $10,000 he has promised athletes for a Beijing podium finish.

Cambodia has no budget for athletes and its sports chiefs have used handouts from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ensure 14 officials accompany its two swimmers and two runners in the Chinese capital.

The National Olympic committee, once accused of being freeloaders by Hun Sen, believes there is little point sending a bigger team.

"The Olympics Games is 10 times tougher than even the Asian Games," Olympic committee chief Meas Sarin told Reuters.

"We really don't have a hope of winning any medals."

Cambodian marathoner trains himself for Olympics out of hope, hardship

By Xia Lin

PHNOM PENH, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Twenty-five year old runner Hem Bunting has been training himself each day here at the Olympic Stadium since the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia (NOCC) chose him to join the Beijing Olympics in August together with three other Khmer athletes.

"Of course I am very excited to have the chance to compete in the Olympics, but I don't hope to win a medal," English-language bi-weekly the Phnom Penh Post Friday quoted him as saying.

Selected by NOCC, the Cambodian team consists of two swimmers, a female sprint runner and Bunting, who will compete in men's marathon and 5,000 meters run.

The team owes its presence at the Olympics to regulations allowing some of the world's least developed countries to enter a man and woman in two sports categories without having to qualify.

Bunting, like the other three, now lives for a supreme dream, but leads a hard life short of finance and understanding.

"He is the number on marathon runner in Cambodia but he still trains in old shoes," Chea Chandara, Bunting's friend and training partner, told the Phnom Penh Post, while complaining fund shortage.

Bunting said that athletes struggled also due to limited public interest in the face of more popular sports like football and boxing.

"Cambodians have little understanding of athletics. They are only interested in sports they can bet on," he added.

The government may not be able to meet their desperate demand for sponsor, equipment and training ground, but provided enough morale support instead to guarantee their confidence in participation of the games.

Cambodian Tourism Minister and NOCC President Thong Khon Tuesday donated 200 U.S. dollars for each of the six Cambodian athletes and trainers heading for the Beijing Olympics.

"I just visited them and offered them my personal money," he said, adding that he had asked the committee to raise their stipend, which is currently set at 50 U.S. dollars each athlete per month for three months prior to the games.

Meanwhile, NOCC is currently finalizing an agreement with South Korea which would allow Bunting to train in Seoul for two months before the games start.

Cambodia will send a 15-member delegation to take part in the Olympic Games with focus on swimming and marathon. King Norodom Sihamoni and Education Minister Kol Pheng are also planning to attend the opening ceremony.

It is not the first time Cambodia has sent athletes to the Olympics.

The first post-war delegation of five Khmers competed at the Atlanta Games in 1996, and Cambodia subsequently sent four athletes to both Sydney in 2000 and Athens in 2004.