Japanese skaters did great job!!

The PyeongChang Olympics has finished.

At first, there wasn't much momentum in Japan. However, because Japanese athletes were wining more medals than expected, in the end, Japanese people are getting quite excited.

Of special note was, in my opinion, the Ladies' Speed Skating.

In the Ladies' 1,500m at 12th,
Miho Takagi won the SILVER medal.
My article;
https://mytokyoolympics.blogspot.jp/2018/02/a-flurry-of-good-news-in-only-hour.html

(Miho Takagi at the flower ceremony

sandwiched in between the Gold and Bronze medalists from Speed Skating superpower the Netherlands)

(from https://www.jiji.com)

Just 2 days later, in the Ladies' 1,000m,
Nao Kodaira won the SILVER, Miho Takagi won the BRONZE.
Podiums of the Speed Skating are always occupied by Dutch skaters. So it was impressive that 2 Japaneses were there.

(Left: Nao Kodaira, Right: Miho Takagi

at the medal ceremony)

(from http://www.yomiuri.co.jp)

Then, the moment which I wrote in the previous article as the happiest moment, came.
In the Ladies's 500m, Nao Kodaira won the GOLD medal with breaking the Olympics records. She got the 2 medals, Gold in the 500m and Silver in the 1,000m at this Olympics.

My article;
https://mytokyoolympics.blogspot.jp/2018/02/the-happiest-moment-nao-kodairas-gold.html

She is great as an athlete needless to say, and above all, her personality is excellent. Whenever I hear about what she speaks in the interviews, my feeling of respect for her is increasing.


It's far from over.

In the Ladies' Team Pursuit, Japan team got the GOLD medal defeating the Netherlands! It was a sweeping victory.

(from left; Ayaka Kikuchi, Ayano Sato, Nana Takagi, Miho Takagi)

(from www.huffingtonpost.jp)

Miho Takagi ended up gertting 3 medals, Gold, Silver and Bronze!


Finally, Nana Takagi won the gold medal in the Ladies Mass Start.
The Mass Start is a new competition in the Olympics and I was not sure about the rule and how strong Japan was. But I was very excited at Nana's tactics and the last-minute boost.

(Nana's wining run)

(from http://www.sankei.com)

Takagi sisters (Nana and Miho) got 5 medals in this Olympics!!

(Left: Older sister, Nana with GOLD and GOLD

Right: Younger sister, Miho with GOLD, SIVER and BRONZE)

(from https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp)

Those achievements of the Japanese women skaters are thanks largely to their Dutch coach Johann David.
He has coached the Japanese skaters not only on the technique and the way of training etc. but also on their mental side.

(Johann and the Pursuit members just after they won the gold medal)

(from https://www.nikkansports.com)

The happiest moment - Nao Kodaira's gold medal

Nao Kodaira (Japan) won the gold medal in the Ladies's Speed Skating 500m breaking the Olympic record!!

(from http://www.hochi.co.jp)

For me, it's the happiest moment in this Olympics!
The PyeongChang Olympics has been somehow lackluster in Japan, but now, the whole country is talking about her wining the gold medal.

Lee Sang-hwa (South Korea) who won the silver medal was crying with disappointment. She is a world-record holder and won the gold medal both at the Sochi and at the Vancouver Olympics. The strongest sprinter!
She must have aimed 3rd straight wining, or rather she must have thought that she had to win, especially because it's the Olympics in her own country. It can be easily imagined that she was under strong pressure.

It was impressive that Nao hugged Sang-hwa and two of them were talking for quite a long time just after the competition.

(from https://mainichi.jp)

Hearing some episodes of them, I realized that they have been good rivals and also, very good friends.

Great performance, Nathan Chen!

The Men Figure Skating was finished.
The result was;

Gold: Yuzuru Hanyu (Japan)
Silver: Shoma Uno (Japan)
Bronze: Javier Fernamdez (Spain)

(from left; Shoma, Yuzuru, Javier)

(from http://www.huffingtonpost.jp)

Nathan Chen (the US), who was the favorite for the Gold medal, ended up the 5th place.
I cheered for him, though he his not Japanese.

In the Short Program, he failed every jumps and placed the 17th. At this point, his winning became impossible. He seemed shocked stiff.

However, he was a different person in the free program, or better to say that he was who he was. His performance was awesome!
He tried a quadruple jump six times and succeeded in five quadruple jumps for the first time in the history!
He greatly exceeded his best score, and scored about 10 points higher than the Gold medalist, Yuzuru Hanyu. No less than 10 points!!

(Nathan Chen, the moment of finishing the free program)

(from http://www.huffingtonpost.jp)

Nathan, you are undoubtedly the No.1 figure skater! 

He is still 18 years old. I'm looking forward to seeing him show great performance and stand on the podium in the next Olympics!

I also cheered for Shoma Uno. He won the sliver this time. Great Job!!
I believe that I can see Nathan and Shoma compete for the Gold medal next time.

--------------------
You can see Nathan's free program on the following page.
(Japanese site though.)
https://sports.nhk.or.jp/video/element/video=35825.html

Too cold, and above all TOO Windy!

The Pyeonchang Olympics is the coldest Olympics ever.
Winter sports athletes always play in snowy cold areas. In spite of that, what they first say in the interview is "too cold."

But what gets them in unduly trouble is "extreme strong wind and gust".

In ski-jumping, snowboard etc. the athletes are falling victim to the wind.


For example, in the Ladies' Snowboard SlopeStyle, almost all the athletes fell down, which raised questions about continuing the competition.

In fact, one of the athletes said that it should has be called off.

Also;
Anna Gasser (Austria) said that she didn't think it was fair competition and was disappointed by the organizer which forcibly conducted the competition.

Aimee Fuller (Great Britain) said that it was "impossible" to success in the final jump due to a strong wind.

Katie Ormerod (Great Britain) and Tess Coady (Australia) were injured in a practice run because of the wind and weren't able to attend the competition. I feel nothing but sympathy for them.


Many athletes are saying that it's something like buying a lottery.

As long as outdoor sports, it can't be avoided to be influenced by nature phenomenon. However, it's going too far this time.

The athletes have been working very very hard and making tremendous effort beyond all imagination, for the Olympics. It should NEVER be as if it's a kind of buying a lottery, and there should NEVER be situation where the athletes get injured and can't attend the competition.

I want to say "Give them their past valuable 4 (or more) years back."
 
  

The King of Snowboard is still the king after all.

Shaun White (the US) won the gold medal in Snowboard Half Pipe.

He has been always the top in Snowboard. Many of snowboarders are very young, even there are many teenagers, but Shaun is already 31. But, he was sill strong. Amazing!

(from left;

Ayumu Hirano - Japan - Sliver medalist

Shaun White - the US - Gold medalist

Scott James - Australia - Bronze medalist)

(from https://www.nikkei.com)

Ayumu Hirano (Japan) won the silver medal at the Sochi Olympics at age 15, 15 years old!  He aimed at the gold medal this time, but unfortunately ended up the silver medal. But he did great!

Both Shaun and Ayumu were seriously injured from an accident in snowboarding last year. Overcoming the injury, they were stood on the Olympic podium after showing great performance.

Ayumu is still 19 with a bright future.

For 19-year-old Ayumu and 23-year-old Scott James (Bronze medalist), Shaun has been an icon since they were kids. And now, they have caught up with him and play in the same field. On the one hand, Shaun has been the top since they were kids. Three of them are awesome!

Scott is coming up in conversation in Japan because of his good looks. Haha.


--------------------
I'm not familiar with snowboard at all. I first learned about regular stance and goofy stance.
I imagined that I do snowboard or surfing. I think I would take goofy stance. Hmm... I'm (my legs are) lefty?

Commercial Olympics

Just after each event finished, the flower ceremony is conducted but athletes aren't received the medals then. The medal ceremony is conducted the next day.
I think the medal ceremony should be conducted instead of the flower ceremony. They can't received the medals just after the game and have to wait until the next day.

From when did flower ceremonies start? I think that it already existed at the Sochi Olympics. Did it begin many years before? I don't remember.

I was wondering what the flower ceremony is for. So I looked it up.

Some article said that,
it is because Olympics become COMMERCIAL Olympics.
First, each country prepare uniform just for a medal ceremony and the medal ceremony becomes a kind of fashion show (maker / brand show?)
Second, the number of TV programs can be increased because of the separated medal ceremonies, which means the number of CMs also can increase.


By the way, although it's called "flower" ceremony, in the PyeongChang Olympics, a stuffed tiger which is the Olympics mascot is given instead of flowers.

(Mogul Bronze medalist, Daichi Hara with the stuffed mascot

at the flower ceremony)

(from http://www.chunichi.co.jp)

The mascots of the PyeonChang Olympics are;
Left: a white tiger named Soohorang for the Olympics
Right: an Asian black bear named Bandabi for the Pralympics

(from http://olympics.nbcsports.com)

Very Cute!

A flurry of good news in only an hour

Monday night, I received three consecutive breaking news in only about an hour that told Japanese athletes won medals.

I was watching Ski-Jumping on TV.

The first breaking news was;
Daichi Hara won the Bronze meadal in Moguls.
It's the first Japanese medal in this Olympics.

(https://pyeongchang.yahoo.co.jp)

I was a bit surprised because he wasn't expected to get a medal. In fact, this was his first podium in world events.
Most skiing athletes were born and grew up in snowy region but he is from Tokyo. He said that it was great that he, a Tokyo-born person, was able to win a medal. Congratulations!


The next breaking news was;
Miho Takagi won the Silver medal in Speed Skating Ladies' 1,500m.

(Miho Takagi in tears with her coach Johann David)

(http://www.chunichi.co.jp)

Oops, I forgot that I should have watched it. I quickly changed the channel.
I missed the moment of her win... But I watched the replay again and again. She seems to have mixed feeling, she is very glad and happy, and also she wanted to win the gold medal. We Japanese know well that how hard she has been working. I was moved that she talked to her coach in tears and hug each other.
She will attend 1,000m and Pursuit.


Then I got back to the channel that showed the Ski-jumping.
Sara Takanashi won the Bronze medal in Ski-jumping Ladies' Normal Hill Individual.

(https://www.asahi.com)

She was expected to win the Gold medal in the last Sochi Olympics and most people thought that she would have won considering her results in the world cup. However, she ended up being the fourth place. Since then, she has been aiming the Gold medal. Although it was not Gold, thinking about her sadness at e last Olympics, we are happy!

The opening ceremony of PyeongChang Olympics

..................................................................................................................................... It was not so good,,,

Whenever I see the Olympics opening ceremony, I'm VERY moved, VERY impressed, VERY excited, and I always think I want to see it live on site!

However, nothing shook my heart this time. I wonder why? It looked like something like an ordinary event.
I heard that the Washington Post also said similar things. The Associated Press (AP) said that number of people who watched the opening ceremony is 20% less than Sochi Olympics.


South and North Korea marched as "Korea" under a unified flag.

(from https://mainichi.jp)

South Korea might have wanted to express something like "reconciliation" or "a symbol of peace."
However, it's definitely a symbol of "political Olympics."


------------------------------

Three things caught my eye.

A bird with a human face
I was very surprised and scared!

(http://news.livedoor.com)

Scary! Too scary!!


Small kids who work hard

When athletes entered the stadium, women with a sign of a country name were ahead of each country as usual. Also kids walked beside them and most of them looked to try hard to walk fast.

(from http://tenmei.cocolog-nifty.com)

The athletes didn't seems to walk so fast, but looking at the women with the sign, they definitely walk quite fast. So for kids, especially the youngest kids must have had to walk fast. Such kids looked very cute, it must be tough for them though. Good job, kids!

Topless in a frigid climate

Tonga's flag bearer, Pita Taufatofua appeared topless, although PyeongChang Olympics is the coldest Olympics ever!

Cold, cold, freezing!!

He is famous, so you might know him. He attended the 2016 Rio summer Olympics as a taekwondo player and he also appeared as Tonga's flag bearer, in topless.

(left: PyeongChang , right: Rio)

(http://www.sankei.com)

This time, he attends the Olympics as a cross-country skier.

Not PyeongChang, but Pyongyang Olympics?

North Korea hold military parade on the day before the opening ceremony of PyeongChang Olympics.


As I wrote in the previous article, once North Korea decided to attend the PyeongChang Olympics, South Korea  has been completely under the thumb of North Korea and even has offered several things which appeal to North Korea.
Many sanctions were imposed against North Korea, but South Korea is taking exceptional measures. South Korea is stupidly acting as North Korea planned.

Many media in the world say that it's not PyeongChang, but Pyongyang Olympics.

Hmm... the military parade was a kind of the opening ceremony of Pyongyang Olympics?

It's been a while. Almost the PyeongChang Olympics

The last article I wrote here was about finishing the Rio Olympics.
Then, the PyeongChang Olympics is about to begin! It's been a long time!

I don't feel that people in Japan are charged up about the PyeongChang Olympics. I'm wondering why.

Only bad news came up, such as;

The tickets don't sell at all.
The situation seems very serious.

Snow is scarce.
Thanks to snowmaking guns, I don't here news about snow shortage recently.
By the way, Japan is in big trouble because of too much snow this winter.

It's TOO cold.
It's going to be the coldest Olympics in Olympic history.
In fact, the rehearsal for the opening ceremony was held and audiences walked out in the middle of the rehearsal because of severely cold.
Local people say that many audiences would be taken to the hospital due to a frigid climate.
Tokyo might be next! Tokyo will hold the ceremony in terribly horribly humid climate and not only audience but athletes might be taken to the hospital.

Volunteers boycotted.
Due to crude working conditions, about 2,400 volunteers quit by 3rd February.
The remaining volunteers have requested the country’s Olympic committee to provide decent or basic working conditions.
And, in the end, over 100 volunteers boycotted the rehearsal for the opening ceremony.

A mass food-poisoning occurred.
I wonder if there is some problems with hygiene management.

North Korea is attending.
Seems like things are getting into trouble.
One of them is, I feel sorry most, the women's ice hockey team ended up the joint South and North Korean team. Some North Korean players joined the team. That means some South Korean players are not able to play at games.
Olympics athletes have been making every effort, sacrificing many things, etc. Everything is just for attending the Olympics. Then finally they won Olympic berth. In spite of that, South Korea deprived some players of it due to politics. I really feel sorry, or rather I'm angry with South Korean politicians.
South Korea is completely under the thumb of North Korea. Even South Korea offered several things which appeal to North Korea. I've heard that the idea of the combined women's ice hockey team is one of them.