The Japanese athletes showed their collective spirit at a send-off event held by the Japan Association of Athletics Federations on Thursday, heading into the IAAF World Athletics Championships, which will be held Aug. 22-30 at Beijing's National Stadium.
Team Japan, which consists of 28 male and four female athletes, looks to make six top-eight finishes, including a couple of medals, on the global track stage. At the 2013 World Championships in Moscow, eight Japanese earned top-eight finishes, including a bronze medal by women's marathon runner Kayoko Fukushi.
Mitsugu Ogata, the delegation's team leader, inspired the athletes, saying that they have so much potential and their key for success would depend on how close they'd perform to their maximum ability in China.