🚴 SPORTS · Japan explained · 2026-09-02

Keirin: the 70 km/h bicycle race Japan invented that became an Olympic sport

Q: What is keirin and how does it work?

Keirin is a Japanese track cycling race in which nine riders follow a pacer around a banked oval track; when the pacer leaves in the final laps, they sprint for the finish at up to 70 km/h.

日本で生まれた自転車レース「けいりん」

Same news, rewritten for 6 Japanese school grades — pick your level below. Furigana + translation included.

132 chars · ~3 min · 18 kanji

🚴 SPORTS 日本にほん

Same sentence · 6 levels

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けいりんは、日本にほんで生うまれた自転車じてんしゃのレースです。

九人きゅうにんのせんしゅが、丸まるい形かたちのコースを何回なんかいも走はしります。

前まえを走はしる一台いちだいの後うしろに列れつを作つくって、風かぜをよけます。

さいごは一気いっきに速はやくなります。

その速はやさは、時速七十じそくななじゅうキロメートルにもなります。

二千年にせんねんから、オリンピックのしゅもくになりました。

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Translation

Keirin is a bicycle race born in Japan.

Nine riders go around a circular course many times.

They form a line behind one bike running in front to avoid the wind.

At the end, the speed suddenly surges.

That speed can reach seventy kilometres per hour.

Since the year 2000, keirin has been an Olympic event.

What is keirin and how does it work?

Keirin is a track cycling race born in Japan in 1948, in the city of Kokura in Fukuoka Prefecture. Nine riders circle a banked oval track called a velodrome. For most of the race they line up behind a single pacer, using its slipstream to save energy, because at high speed air resistance is the biggest enemy. Then, in the final two laps, the pacer pulls away and the real sprint explodes: riders can top 70 kilometres per hour in the dash to the line.

Becoming a keirin rider is not casual. Candidates enter a special residential school and train body, mind and technique for about a year before they can race professionally.

In 2000, keirin was adopted as an official Olympic event at the Sydney Games — a rare case of a sport invented in Japan reaching the Olympic programme, alongside judo. Today keirin is raced in velodromes around the world, and Japan runs both men's and women's professional circuits.

This article comes in six versions, one for each elementary-school kanji grade, with furigana and full Vietnamese and English translations, so you can read real Japanese at exactly your level.

Is keirin an Olympic sport?

Yes. Keirin was invented in Japan in 1948 and became an official Olympic track cycling event at the Sydney 2000 Games, raced by both men and women today.

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