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From the Olympics Toword Tomorrow
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Nordic combined team denied in Japan's best games
Japan's Nordic combined team, the winner of the gold medal in the previous two winter Olympics, battled mightily over the rugged Snow Harp cross country skiing course in Hakuba on Friday to make up for their lackluster ski jumping the day before.
Starting in fifth place 21 seconds behind, Japan briefly climbed into second place -- although by then they were already more than 1 minute behind front-runner Norway.
Japan's third runner Gen Tomii, however, could not keep pace and slumped all the way back to sixth place before Japanese anchor and reigning world champion Kenji Ogiwara pulled the team up to fifth at the finish.
Ogiwara, at 28 one of the oldest Nordic combined skiers here, ended the Olympics without realizing his dream of winning an individual medal but hinted this was not the end of his career.
''These were frustrating results because I moved here to Nagano with an aim to win (the gold),'' he said. ''But actually, now, the desire to win is burning stronger than ever inside me.''
Before the start of the Nagano Olympics, Japanese athletes had won only three gold medals in the winter games -- Yukio Kasaya's normal hill ski jumping victory in Sapporo in 1972 and back-to-back triumphs by the Nordic combined team in Albertville and Lillehammer.
The Nagano Games, however, have been a gold mine for the home team as Japanese speed skater Hiroyasu Shimizu, ski jumper Kazuyoshi Funaki, the ski jumping team and surprise winner in the freestyle skiing moguls Tae Satoya have all stood on the top step of the medals podium.
On the final day of speed skating, where Japan has enjoyed unprecedented success -- especially with Shimizu's triumph in the men's 500 -- Mie Uehara finished 11th in the women's 5,000 meters in 7 minutes, 21.72 seconds while compatriot Nami Nemoto ended up in 15th in 7:36.77.
In figure skating, 16-year-old Shizuka Arakawa is still a long way from making the Japanese forget about Albertville silver medalist Midori Ito, but expressed determination to improve upon her 13th place finish in the women's competition.
''I'm disappointed that I couldn't give everything I have. I made many mistakes in the jumps and ran out of steam toward the end,'' said Arakawa, who was able to land only three triple jumps.
In the women's 30-kilometer cross country skiing event, local favorite Sumiko Yokoyama finished the race in 1 hour, 32 minutes, 4.3 seconds for 32nd place. Her Japanese teammates Midori Furusawa and sister Kumiko Yokoyama were 38th and 39th, respectively. (Kyodo News)
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Copyright 1998 The Shinano Mainichi Shimbun