hitomi -- LOVE 2000

I was living in Japan for a good smattering of Olympics coverage and also the World Cup with Japan and South Korea as hosts in 2002. For the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, I was just waking up one Sunday morning when I turned on the TV and had the good luck to see the ending of the Women's Marathon when Japanese runner Naoko "Q-chan" Takahashi（高橋尚子）crossed the finish line to get the Gold medal.

It was later found out that Takahashi got psyched up during training while listening to "LOVE 2000" by hitomi, and so not surprisingly, that certainly helped boost sales of the singer-songwriter's 17th single from June 2000.

hitomi had already been around for some years since arriving under the Tetsuya Komuro（小室哲哉）umbrella, and at the time, I hadn't really thought of her as being the strongest singer around. However, with "LOVE 2000", there was that good fit between her vocals and the uplifting song.

I think one reason is that she and her lyrics seemed more comfortable with Masato Kamata's（鎌田雅人）melody as if she had crafted the music herself. My image of hitomi has always been as that of a rock-loving biker type, and whether or not that's actually true, "LOVE 2000" has become the tune that I will always recognize for. It did become one of her bigger hits by reaching No. 5 on Oricon and ending up as the 78th-ranked single of the year. The song was also her first invitation to the Kohaku Utagassen that year with her only other appearance a couple of years later for "Samurai Drive".

As far as I know, "LOVE 2000" wasn't an Olympics theme song in any official capacity but considering that it may have helped Q-chan get that Gold for Japan, I'll be happy to bestow honourary status in Labels.