Cool Runnings Inspires Japanese Softball Pitcher to 2010
If you’ve ever watched the movie Cool Runnings, you know exactly how inspiring it is…and for some, inspiring enough to try the sport out. After watching the film based on the true story of Jamaica’s national bobsled team debuting at the 1988 Calgary Olympics, Japanese softball pitcher, Juri Takayama, began preparing for the transition to bobsled - she says she even used the flick as part of her training.
Takayama was recruited to be a candidate of the national team by Japan’s bobsled and luge federation earlier this month and hopes to earn a spot to race down the tracks at the Whistler Sliding Center at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games - she has already competed in the elite sporting event as part of the Japanese softball team that won silver in Sydney and bronze in Athens. She’s not done playing on the diamond-field, but the sport has been dropped from the Olympic program for the 2012 London Games.
World Cup of Softball Update (Japan VS. US)
Japan was beaten by rival US Saturday night (July 18) 6-1.
2010 Dream: Takayama is hoping to become a pusher in the two-crew event. If she makes the team, Takayama would join the exclusive list of four other Japanese athletes who have taken part in both the Winter and Summer Games (Sayuri Osuga, Seiko Hashimoto and Natsue Seki all took part in speed skating and cycling, while Shinji Aoto participated in track and bobsled and is the only Japanese male athlete to take part both the Winter and Summer Games).
FACT: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) OKay-ed the entry of the Japanese bobsled team in 2006 (Turin Winter Olympics). The four Japanese bobsled athletes were men’s pair Suguru Kiyokawa and Ryuichi Kobayashi and women’s pair Manami Hino and Chisato Nagaoka.
Say ‘Hello’ to the 2006 Team!
Editor’s Captures - Whistler Sliding Center…where Takayama would be competing in Vancouver 2010
BEAUTIFUL WHISTLER, CANADA!!!!!!
This is how steep the track curve is!
