This I have to share with you,, After barely 2 weeks of following the Games on NHK World, here is some good news.. Courtesy of AP via Yahoo Sports
After two weeks of disappointment, Arakawa wins a big gold for Japan
TURIN, Italy (AP) -- It was a very long two weeks for Japan. First the snowboarders crashed out, with one ending up in the hospital. The speedskaters bombed. The curlers and the bobsledders never had much of a chance.
Then figure skater Shizuka Arakawa hit the ice and made everything right again.
"I'm speechless," she said after a dazzling performance Thursday to steal the gold away from Sasha Cohen of the United States and Irina Slutskaya of Russia. "I never expected to win Japan's first medal. But I'm happy that I did."
Not only was it the first medal of the Turin Games for Japan, it was the first time a Japanese woman had ever won figure skating gold. The previous best was a silver by Midori Ito in 1992.
"One gold is worth 10 bronzes," said Kenichi Chizuka, the head of Japan's Olympic delegation.
The Japanese came here looking strong. Their contingent in Turin also included figure skater Fumie Suguri, the national champion and a two-time bronze medalist in the world championships, and 2004 junior world champion Miki Ando. The three skaters were seen as medal contenders, if longshots for the gold.
On the first day of competition, Arakawa and Suguri put in strong short programs, finishing third and fourth.
Ando, going into the free skate in eighth place, tried to make Olympic history with a quadruple salchow -- she's the only woman to have done one successfully in competition -- but stumbled and then missed most of her remaining jumps.
"I really wanted to make that jump in front of everyone," the 18-year-old said of her Olympic debut. "I was nervous in a way that I've never been before."
When it was Arakawa's turn, however, everything went right.
After watching Cohen fall on her first two jumps, Arakawa skated one of her best free programs ever, scoring a personal best 125.32 points. When Slutskaya fell midway through her program, it was over.
"Overall, I felt very good," Arakawa said. "I'm just very surprised."
Suguri, at 25 the oldest of the three Japanese skaters, was up next, and put in a clean and emotional -- but less challenging -- program. Her scores weren't high enough to give her the boost she needed and she finished fourth.
"I skated almost like 100 percent," Suguri said. "But unfortunately I'm not on the podium. It's difficult."
Arakawa, 24, hadn't been on the podium much lately, either.
This season had been especially disappointing, with no wins and three third-place finishes, two of them behind Cohen and Slutskaya.
She almost didn't even make it that far. Hurt by injuries and homesick from training abroad, she had considered retiring after her 2004 championship.
"I'm very glad now that I chose to continue," she said.
So were Japanese officials, because Turin had been shaping up as one of the country's worst Olympics ever.
Team officials had predicted Japan would win five or more medals, surpassing the two it won in Salt Lake City in 2002. But with just a few days remaining in the games, the country had failed to win a medal of any color.
The last time Japan's team went home empty-handed was in Innsbruck in 1976.
"We were feeling a lot of pressure," Chizuka said.
The Japanese closely watched the event, with people getting up early to tune in because of the time difference. The final skate was broadcast live on public broadcaster NHK, which even delayed its usual morning news for the program.
"It's good news," Satoshi Kawata said as he went to work. "I think it's a shame that no Japanese athletes have won any medals in this Olympics, so it's especially good news that this medal was a gold
If the Philippines Did that, It would be a bigger one other than Manny Pacquiao
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