Perspectives

Keiichiro Nagashima, holding the Japanese flag, celebrates winning a silver medal in the men's 500-meter speed skating event at the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games on Monday. (Mainichi)

The moment Keiichiro Nagashima and Joji Kato clinched the silver and bronze medals in the men's 500-meter speed skating at the Vancouver Games on Monday, Japanese Olympic team captain Seiko Hashimoto hugged the people around her, her eyes brimming with tears of happiness.

"We missed out on a medal in the (women's) moguls, and there was immense pressure. I was thinking, 'What will we do if we don't win any medals in the men's 500 meters?'" she said.

Hashimoto shook hands firmly with the general director of the Olympic team, Keiichi Suzuki, a former world record holder in the event. The sight of unfettered elation from past skating stars revealed the preciousness of the two medals.

Starting with the silver medal won by Yoshihiro Kitazawa at the 1984 Winter Olympic Games in Sarajevo, Japan claimed medals in the 500 meters speed skating for six consecutives games. At the Nagano Winter Olympic Games in 1998, Hiroyasu Shimizu captured the gold. The event had become one of Japan's specialties, and speed skating officials had held pride in the fact that they had supported Japan's winter sports competition.

But in the 2006 Olympic Games in Turin, Italy, Japan suffered the humiliation of not attaining a single medal in any speed skating event. And with the economic bubble burst and the ongoing effects of the global economic crisis, famous teams sponsored by major companies such as Oji Paper and Kokudo disappeared.

Nidec Sankyo Corp., operator of the team to which Nagashima and Kato belong, has been understanding when it comes to support for skating, but like other companies, it has not been able to escape the effects of the global economic downturn. During the first half of this fiscal year, the pair's wages were cut. Athletes always face a sense of crisis, having to face the question: "Will we be able to continue in our event?" It is certain that if the skaters had tasted defeat in the Olympic Games this time as well, the environment for competition would have worsened.

Before the opening of the Vancouver Games, Japan's speed skating team leader Toshiaki Imamura stated, "Vancouver will be a crucial test." When the skaters went out on the ice in an all-or-nothing attempt and secured medals, Imamura, who was looking on from the side of the rink, let out a whoop of delight.

Both Nagashima and Kato had vowed that they would claim the gold medal in the event this time. Neither of them attained the goal, and their joy as they stood at either side of the winner's podium seemed tinged with disappointment.

But the people who had supported and watched over the two athletes responded differently: The outstanding performance of the two skaters that brought Japan its first two medals in a single event in 18 years provided a ray of hope -- not only for the world of Japanese skating, which was experiencing continuing sluggishness, but for all winter sports in Japan.