The Japan News Akito Watabe won a silver medal in the Nordic combined individual competition at Sochi on Wednesday, giving Japan additional medal the day after it won two in men’s snowboard halfpipe.
The gold medal went to Eric Frenzel of Germany, while Magnus Krog of Norway earned bronze.
Watabe collected Japan’s second medal in the Nordic combined individual event, following Takanori Kono, who earned a silver at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics.
Watabe, 25, who won four World Cup titles in the 2011-12 season, was second after soaring 100.5 meters in the ski jumping portion and started six minutes behind Frenzel in the 10-kilometer cross-country race.
Watabe’s younger brother, Yoshito, placed 15th and Hideaki Nagai was 22nd. Taihei Kato finished 31st.
Feb 13, 2014 the Yomiuri Shimbun
The Japan News Evergreen Noriaki Kasai won the silver medal in the men’s large hill in ski jumping at the Sochi Olympics on Saturday, capturing the individual medal he has long sought after in his seven attempts at Winter Games.
The 41-year-old, who finished eighth in the normal hill last week, had jumps of 139 and 133.50 meters for a total of 277.4 points. Kamil Stoch of Poland won the event with 278.7 points, while Peter Prev of Slovenia bagged bronze.
Kasai brought Japan its first ski jumping Olympic medal since the 1998 Nagano Games.
Kasai made his Olympic debut at the 1992 Albertville Games, and won silver at a team event in 1994 at Lillehammer. However, his best result in individual events was fifth in Lillehammer.
Last month, Kasai became the oldest World Cup winner, finishing first in an event in Austria.
Daiki Ito finished ninth, Reruhi Shimizu 10th and Taku Takeuchi 13th.
Japan team wins bronze medal
in ski jumping
The Yomiuri Shimbun SOCHI—Led by Noriaki Kasai, the silver medalist in the individual large hill event on Saturday, Japan won bronze in men’s team ski jumping.
Monday’s bronze is the first medaｌ Japan has received in the event since the 1998 Nagano Games, and Japan’s sixth medal at Sochi, surpassing the five it won at the 2010 Vancouver Games.
（１９９８年の長野ｵﾘﾝﾋﾟｯｸ以来のメダル）
Meanwhile, the women’s curling team lost on Monday to defending champion
Sweden in its final match and missed a ticket to the semifinals. Japan finished with a 4-5 record in 5th place—the same as at the Nagano
Games.
（準決勝への切符を逃した）
The bronze on Monday drew tears from Kasai, who has not cried at any of his seven Olympics so far, even when he won his first individual medal on Saturday.
“I don’t care about colors. I’m happy because we united our strength to win the medal. I’m glad that I can see my junior fellows receiving medals,” Kasai said tearfully.
In the team event, Kasai, 41, jumped with Daiki Ito, 28; Reruhi Shimizu, 20; and Taku Takeuchi, 26. The four jumped in order of age, starting with Shimizu.
In the first round, Shimizu made a jump of 132.5 meters to place second. Kasai jumped 134 meters after Takeuchi and Ito, putting Japan in third place.
All four flew more than 130 meters in the second round. When the team came to the top before the last jumpers of Austria and Germany made attempts, the four hugged each other as it became clear they would win a medal.
Takeuchi wins silver in women’s snowboard parallel giant slalom
The Japan News Tomoka Takeuchi won the silver medal in the women’s snowboard parallel
giant slalom event at the Sochi Olympics on Wednesday, edged byPatrizia Kummer of Switzerland in the final.
(edge ｴｯｼﾞ ～に辛勝する）
This was the seventh medal Japan has won at the Games, and the first bagged by a female athlete. Takeuchi became the first Japanese female snowboarder to win an Olympic medal. Ayumu Hirano won silver and Taku Hiraoka earned bronze in the men’s snowboard halfpipe on Feb. 11.
The 30-year-old Takeuchi was second in a World Cup meet earlier this month
