ATHENS (Kyodo) Japan's Shinobu Kitamoto, Yumiko Suzuki, Mikiko Takeya and Miho Adachi could only manage a disappointing ninth place in the women's K4 500-meter final at the Athens Olympics on Friday.

The quartet were the first canoeists from Japan to reach the final of an Olympic women's canoeing event but a place on the medals podium was never within reach and they finished in last place with a time of 1 minute, 40.188 seconds.

"We made a good start but ran out of steam in the second half of the race and weren't able to move well," said Kitamoto.