For the next two days at the 11th IAAF World Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Nagai Stadium in Osaka will feature subtle elements of Kewalo Pickle Products.

The late, great Ishimoto business was where the family grew up under the watchful, sparkling eyes of Tsumoru and Kay Ishimoto. The Ishimotos, now 83 and 81 years young, are in Osaka to watch their grandson, Bryan Clay, continue his quest for decathlon dominance. The Castle graduate is defending the World Championship he won in Finland two years ago.

That was a year after Clay captured silver at the Olympics, running into the stands to embrace his grandparents before taking a victory lap with the American flag. The 8,820 points he accumulated in Athens remain his personal best, but some decathletes believe he can break the world record and possibly become the first to surpass 9,200.

This is Clay's first visit to his mother's homeland. Michele (Ishimoto) Vandenberg moved to Hawai'i in 1966 from Numazu City, at the foot of Mount Fuji. That was when Kay and Tsumoru, a McKinley graduate who met his wife while in the Army, started the Japanese pickle manufacturing business. It was the gathering place for the family.

"Bryan and all the grandkids were raised at the factory," Vandenberg recalled. "It's where the whole extended family started."

"Bryan did a lot of helping," Tsumoru recalled. "Of course, he was very naughty and rascal."

But Clay was paying attention. There was a period, after his parents divorced when he was in fifth grade and before his mother remarried, that Tsumoru was his only male role model.

"For that little time, my grandfather was the only person I had that taught me what it meant to be a man in his eyes," Clay said. "There is so much I learned from him and my grandmother."

Clay has matured into someone "very conscientious" about all he does, according to his grandparents. Smaller than most decathletes, he is hoping to defend his title in Osaka and go for the gold next year in Beijing.

His grandparents hope to be there. They "train" to see their grandson compete. Clay is a compelling part of why they used to walk around the University of Hawai'i track three times a week.

Kay, a hurdler growing up in Japan, used to push Tsumoru on her walker when he tired. He has had a host of health problems, but now both are in relatively good health and intent on keeping their strength up to get to Beijing. "I tell him to eat his vegetables," Kay says with a grin.

Tsumoru, a black belt in judo in his younger days, now trains that focus on his grandchildren. He scoured the internet, waiting for World Championship tickets to go on sale and bought them the moment they were.

The family — Michele and her husband, Mike, will be in Japan along with Bryan's wife Sarah and their 3-month-old daughter Kate — will be situated in front of the long jump pit for their two 16-hour days. Tsumoru will have them at the gate at 6:30 each morning, when it opens.

The family has been in Japan a week playing tourist. Vandenberg believes "Bryan's roots are in my hometown." She also believes her son was blessed with the perseverance of his grandparents. It is what gets him through the intense training and body-breaking competitions that make up the decathlon. In the unique 10-event test of mind and matter, an athlete's score is based on an international table that evaluates and awards points for each performance.

It is not for the weak of heart or will, beyond all its athletic demands. Grandparents are good people to have on your side.

"I would like for him to naturally get gold at Osaka and also Beijing," Tsumoru said. "I don't think beyond that. Once he captures gold in Beijing, I think he should retire."

Kay doesn't care if it's gold or silver: "To me, I want him to do his best. That's all I want."

Clay hopes to make those who taught him the "value of hard work and being disciplined in all you do" proud over the next two days, and 11 months — the Olympics begin Aug. 8, 2008.

"Not just proud of me on the track," said Clay, now a father of two, coach at Azusa Pacific and founder of the Bryan Clay Foundation, "but in life."

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.