Daily Updates — Live from Nagano

Board Tells All [click to zoom]

Japanese Dominate Team 120m Jump

Bullet trains, rice and cars all are associated with Japanese culture, but after the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, the world now also knows the Japanese ski jumpers. After taking silver in the Individual 90 meter, then gold and bronze in the Individual 120 meter, it was time for the Japanese jumpers to steal the gold in the Team 120 meter jump before their screaming masses.

The Japanese crowd began piling into the Hakuba ski jumping stadium by 7am, and by the time the jumping started, there were 50,000 devoted, crazed and proud fans there to ensure that Japan would soar to the gold. Despite the dumping snow and poor visibilty, the contest was going to happen and the spectators packing the stadium made it official.

Funaki Flies [click to zoom]

The team 120 meter jump is a contest where there are four jumpers for each country. Each jumper gets two jumps, one per round. With Kazoyoshi Funaki and Masahiko Harada on the Japanese team, and three Nagano Olympic medals between them, the Japanese appeared to be the favorites. But with a storm still circling Hakuba, the changing conditions allowed anything to happen.

Harada Soars [click to zoom]

The first round saw some inconsistent jumps due to the fact that these fearless jumpers were flying in the midst of a storm. The Japanese all had fine jumps except for Harada, who only jumped 79 meters and held back the Japanese team from the lead. When the round was over, Germany had the lead by more than 100 points over Japan. Austria was second and Finland was third.

After a brief delay in starting the final round, the contest was back on and the pressure was on the Japanese. It was either Japanese pride or fear of national disgrace that enraged the Japanese jumpers as they dominated the final round. When Takanobu Okabe landed a 137 meter jump in the final round, Japan's lead increased and with Funaki to jump last, the ecstatic crowd knew that they had secured the gold. Before tens of thousands of flag bearing, screaming, bezerk fans, Funaki landed a 125 meter jump and the Japanese had clinched the gold. After the victory, the Japanese fans were elated, embraced each other and rejoiced in victory.

— Brent Brookler, Zone Team East, I like rice bowls

Results

1 Japan 933.0
2 Germany 897.4
3 Austria 881.5
4 Norway 870.6
5 Finland 833.8
6 Switzerland 735.0
7 Czech Republic 710.3
8 Poland  684.2
9 Russia 639.7
10 Slovenia 610.3
11 Kazakhstan 602.0
12 United States 490.7
13 Korea 373.8