The Winter Youth Olympic Games held in South Korea ended on February 1st. Japan won 15 medals, including three gold medals, and the young athletes competed for 14 days, raising hopes that they will be active on the Olympic stage in the future.


(Sports News Department Reporter/Shohei Matsuyama, Koji Fukushima)

“Achievement group” is a good response

At this tournament, which brings together the world's top youth players, the players who have already made their mark on the world stage showed their strength.

Mao Shimada (left) Yusa Takagi (right)

Mao Shimada, a women's singles figure skater who won a gold medal, and Yusuke Murase, a women's snowboarder in big air, both have a track record of becoming number one in the world in the junior category.

Regarding winning the gold medal at the Youth Olympics, Shimada said, ``I want to use this experience as my first step toward going to the Olympics, and I want to do my best to perform even better.''

Yusuke Murase (center)

Murase also said, ``Even though we are from the junior generation, everyone is very good.I got a lot of inspiration from them, and I think I will continue to do my best.''Looking back on it, it was a great experience.

Furthermore, on the final day of the competition, Rise Kudo, who won the gold medal in the women's snowboarding halfpipe, was all smiles as she stood on the podium with her rival of the same age, Sara Shimizu, who won the silver medal.

Sara Shimizu (left) Rise Kudo (center)

In the same event, Ryusei Yamada also won a bronze medal, demonstrating the high level of Japan's skill in both men's and women's events.



In this event, Japanese athletes won gold medals for both men and women at the last Youth Olympics, and at the Senior Olympics, Ayumu Hirano won the gold medal at the Beijing Games, making it the second consecutive year that Japanese athletes have won medals.



This result raises hopes that it will establish itself as a new Japanese "traditional craft."

Short Track: Achieving results with new training methods

Short track skating showed signs of recovery after a long period of stagnation, winning three bronze medals for men's and women's individual and mixed teams.

After the Beijing Olympics two years ago, when the short track team was unable to advance to the finals, the Japan Skating Federation formed a new ``Junior National Team,'' which will hold intensive training camps starting from the junior generation to strengthen the team. We have started to strengthen the system from a practical perspective.



We held a training camp where we learned not only skating techniques, but also nutrition and mental health, and among them we produced athletes such as Atsunomi Inoue, who won the bronze medal in the women's 1,500 meters this year.



Inoue seemed to be feeling the results, saying, ``Thanks to her training camp, she was able to win this medal.''

Discovering talent with “dual wielding”

Also, in the women's skeleton competition, Ayao Shinohara, who specialized in track and field, participated with only 10 competitions experience.

Ayao Shinohara player

Shinohara, who discovered his talent in skeleton during a project to find suitability for various sports, said, ``I hope to continue to grow through the synergy between track and field and skeleton.''



How to develop the potential of the younger generation is a challenge facing not only winter sports but the entire sports world.



It was clear to me that our efforts to find new ways to develop the junior generation are steadily bearing fruit.

Traditional “home crafts” are struggling

On the other hand, Japan struggled in events such as ski jumping and Nordic combined, where Japan has traditionally demonstrated its strength on the world stage.

Yuzuki Sato player

Although the Japanese team did not win a medal at this competition, Yuzuki Sato, a female ski jumper who also served as the flag bearer at the opening ceremony, said, ``I was able to compete against top athletes of my generation and learn about their current abilities. There's so much more to come, so I want to move on to the next one," he said, expressing his determination to use this experience as inspiration.



Masahiko Harada, a gold medalist in ski jumping at the Nagano Olympics and the leader of the Japanese team in this competition, said, ``There was a difference in experience.With this result, each instructor will be able to provide guidance that will lead to the growth of the athletes.'' We need to continue to do so.''

There is also a “learning” aspect, not just competition.

The Youth Olympic Games are not only about competition, but also about education, where young athletes interact with people from countries and regions around the world and learn a variety of knowledge.

Learn knowledge about doping Curling player Sakizuki Maruzen

At the educational program booth in the athletes' village, there was also a corner to learn about training methods, knowledge about doping, and athlete mindset, as well as a game space where athletes could interact with each other.



The educational program allows players to learn through games and practical training, and those who complete the program can receive a set of original pin badges, so the program was crowded with athletes taking time out from competitions and practice to attend.

The appearance of senior athletes

What attracted particular attention was the ``Athlete Role Model'', a group of former top athletes with extensive experience in international competitions.

Nao Kodaira (right)

Nao Kodaira, a gold medalist in speed skating at the Pyeongchang Olympics, participated from Japan in order to share her experience with young athletes.



During the event, she appeared as a presenter at the awards ceremony, and she also interacted with the players.

Reusing facilities, experimenting with mixed events and digital technology

The Youth Olympic Games are also a place where the IOC (International Olympic Committee) and others introduce advanced initiatives with an eye to future Olympics.



In particular, the IOC claims that this year's Games have demonstrated the sustainability of future Olympic Games.

The venue for the competition was the venue for the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, and all existing facilities were utilized, including the reuse of the venue from the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, and the dormitory of a local university was used for accommodation in the athletes' village.



It is said that 30% of the staff at the organizing committee's secretariat had experience at the Pyeongchang Games, and by making use of that experience, the number of secretariat staff could be kept to a minimum, and as a result, the organizing committee's overall The budget was approximately 10.8 billion yen in Japanese yen, which was approximately 3.5% of the budget for the 2018 PyeongChang Games, excluding facilities and infrastructure budget. (*Calculated at 1 yen = 9.06 won as of 10am on February 2nd).

Japan wins bronze medal in mixed short track skating relay

It is also said that there was a significant result from the perspective of gender equality, which is advocated by the IOC.



At this year's tournament, the approximately 1,900 athletes had a 50/50 split between men and women, and a new mixed speed skating relay was introduced, bringing the total number of mixed men and women events to 17 of the 81 events.



Another thing that struck me was the IOC's emphasis on the use of digital technology to attract young people's interest in the Olympics and sports.



For this year's tournament, we will introduce the ``Metaverse'' service that allows you to tour the venue in a virtual space on the Internet, making it possible to experience the atmosphere of the venue in a virtual world, creating a new trend in sports experiences in the future. It gave me a sense of the possibility.

Looking to the future

Many Japanese athletes said that they felt fulfilled through the tournament, with comments such as ``I was able to gain a variety of experiences and it was stimulating.''



Many Olympic medalists have been born from the Youth Olympics.



Nao Kodaira, who served as her athlete role model, reunited with her rival and best friend Lee Sang Hwa (Lee Sang Hwa) at the tournament venue, rekindling her old friendship.

Nao Kodaira and Lee Sang Hwa

Waka Sasabuchi, the bronze medalist in the women's 500m speed skating race at this year's tournament, who admires Kodaira, vowed to continue competing with the Korean skater who won the silver medal as a rival.



This tournament was a great opportunity for young athletes to learn the importance of competing and improving each other. Mr. Kodaira sent an important message.

Nao Kodaira


: ``The most important thing I want to convey to young athletes is that the world they see on a daily basis is not everything.The experience of trying to understand different cultures around the world and trying to understand each other will definitely help them become better people. It becomes material for growth.”

How will the young athletes who have experienced this competition grow as athletes and people, and how will they one day make it to the Olympics or the world stage?



We will continue to pay close attention to the future.