Wakako Tsuchida

Wakako Tsuchida (Japanese土 田 和 歌子, Wakako Tsuchida, born 15 October 1974 in Tokyo Prefecture ) is a Japanese disabled athlete.

The Tokyo resident Tsuchida lost her legs in a road accident when she was 17 years old.

She is a successful participant in wheelchair marathon competitions and scored several top rankings. In the years 1999 and 2001 to 2003, she won each of the Oita Marathon. In 2002 she finished the Boston Marathon as a third party after Edith Hunkeler and Christina Ripp. In 2003 she came to fourth place. In 2007, she succeeded for the first time to win the Boston Marathon. The following year she was able to defend their winning title, being with a time of 1:34:06 set a new course record with their fifth victory in 2011. The Honolulu Marathon, she won in 2003 and 2005. 2010 she was the London Marathon to decide for themselves.

Furthermore, Tsuchida took several times participated in the Paralympic Games. In the Paralympic Winter Games in Nagano in 1998, she won two gold medals in ice - sled race, one at 1000 and 1500 meters. In Sydney in 2000, she won the marathon with a time of 1:50:10, a bronze medal. Four years later in Athens Tsuchida posted a time of 1:50:13 in the marathon, and thus won silver. Also in Athens, she was first in the 5000 -meter wheelchair race and was able to win the first Japanese athlete in both the Paralympic Summer and Winter Games gold. 2008 Beijing Tsuchida was unable to repeat their former successes. This was due to a collision just before the winners line in the 5000 -meter wheelchair race, through which they had to end their further participation in the Games.