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From the Olympics Toword Tomorrow
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No ski jump medals sweep, but Japanese still upbeat
More than 40,000 local spectators jammed the Olympic ski jumping course at Hakuba, eager to see history in the making, but the powerful and highly touted Japanese ski jumping team came up short.
Instead of the clean medal sweep for which many spectators had been hoping, the best the four Japanese skiers could manage on the opening day of the ski jumping competition in the Nagano Olympics was a silver.
''It is of course disappointing because I had hoped Japan would win all three medals, the gold, the silver, and the bronze,'' said Kazuhiro Kamiya, 32, who traveled five hours on a bus from Aichi Prefecture to see the normal-hill ski jumping event.
Also among the spectators were Crown Prince Naruhito and Princess Masako. The royal presence, however, wasn't enough to save the day.
Jani Soininen of Finland, who placed second after the first jump, broke the heart of many Japanese spectators when he sailed past the Japanese contingent to win his first Olympic gold medal.
The letdown came after a strong Japanese start.
After the first round of competition, the scoreboard showed three Japanese skiers in the top five slots, with Masahiko Harada, the reigning large-hill world champion, sitting in the top slot.
But Harada, who made the day's longest leap of 91.5 meters in his first run, managed only a disappointing fifth when he came down well shy of the landing point on his second leap.
Harada traveled just 84 meters on the 90-meter hill and was greeted at the spectators' ramp by a wail of disappointment.
It was World Cup leader Kazuyoshi Funaki who gave the home crowd something to cheer about. He made the best jump of the second round and moved from fourth place, his standing after the first jump, to take the silver.
Teammate Noriaki Kasai, who placed fifth after the first jump, came in seventh place.
While clearly disappointed, some spectators took a more philosophical view.
''I'm still expecting good results in the large hill event,'' Kamiya said of the second ski jumping event scheduled for Sunday.
Rieko Mitsui, another disappointed Japanese spectator, shared that sentiment.
''I was disappointed at first, but it is just so exciting to be here that it's hard to be depressed for long,'' she says. (Kyodo News)
No part of the article, photographs, or illustrations presented here may be printed or used without permission.
Copyright 1998 The Shinano Mainichi Shimbun