Japanese Athletes at Pyeongchang Olympic Games

2018/02/17

Yuzuru Hanyu Makes Figure Skating History, Winning Singles Gold for 2nd Straight Winter Games for 1st Time in 66 Years while Having Yet to Fully Recover from Injuries in His Right Ankle


     Japan won a record 13 Winter Olympic medals--four golds, five silvers and four bronzes--during the Pyeongchang Games in South Korea on Feb. 9-25. Three golds were earned at women's speed skating events, historic achievements made by Japanese skaters. Nao Kodaira grabbed the 500-meter sprint gold with an Olympic record of 36.94 seconds. Nana Takagi, her younger sister Miho, Ayano Sato and Ayaka Kikuchi won the team pursuit event. Nana Takagi also became the first Olympic mass-start champion. Miho Takagi took the individual 1,500-meter silver and 1,000-meter bronze, as well. The last gold went to Yuzuru Hanyu, who prevailed in men's figure staking singles for the second consecutive Winter Games, the accomplishment that had not been seen for 66 years, despite injuries in his right ankle. Other remarkable performers included snowboarder Ayumu Hirano, who earned the second consecutive silver in men's halfpipe, Shoma Uno, an Olympic rookie and the men's figure skating singles runner-up, Sara Takanashi, who clinched the jumping bronze for women, the first Olympic medal for the world's top-class jumper, and members of the LS Kitami women's curling team--Satsuki Fujisawa, Yurika Yoshida, Yumi Suzuki, Chinami Yoshida and Mari Motohashi--who became the first Japanese curlers to stand on an Olympic podium, with bronze medals hanging around their necks.

(AFP-Jiji)

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