Takahashi takes Bronze in Men’s Figure Skating

Written By: guyjin on February 20, 2010 No Comment

TakahashiDaisukeOlympic2010
Takahashi Daisuke became the first Japanese man to win an Olympic figure skating medal when he claimed the bronze medal behind American Lysacek and Russian Plushenko.

Attention before the final performances centered on who would, and who wouldn’t try the quad jump, which few skaters are able to accomplish with precision and consistency. Lysacek contraversially said that he wouldn’t even be adding the move to his routine, which could have cost him the gold medal due to the points that are available for a successful completion of the move. He received a lot of criticism for what was called a defensive move, but he had the last laugh, winning the gold medal.

For Takahashi, it had always been in his plans to attempt the move. In morning practice he had attempted two quad jumps, and failed to nail either of them, so the pressure would have been great geading into the final performance. Indeed, he fell attempting the quad jump, costing him several points (and possibly the gold medal…). After being just 0.60 points behind Plushenko after the first round, Takahashi managed to outscore everyone in terms of artistic elements, with 42.25 compared to Lysacek and Plushenko’s 41.4 points. Overall, he finished with 247.23 points, about 10 points below Lysacek (257.67) and Plushenko (256.36).

Takahashi had finished in 8th place at the Turino Olympics in 2006, and won the silver medal at the 2007 World Championships. He is also a previous world record holder with a score of 264.41 in 2008. At the end of the 2008-09 season, he suffered a major knee problem which required surgery, and it wasn’t clear whether he would be able to compete in the Olympics. But he overcame his injury to become one of the best hopes forJapan for a gold medala these games. After his final routine he expressed his satisfaction with the achievement of being the first Japanese man to win an Olympic figure skating medal.

The other Japanese men, Oda Nobunari (238.87) and Kozuka Takahiko (231.19) finished 7th and 8th respectively, giving Japan 3 of the top 8 placings. Oda was disappointed when his routine was interrupted part way when the laces of his boot snapped. He showed the laces to the judges and was allowed to go off the ice to restore his laces, before being allowed to continue. To achieve seventh place after such an interruption showed a lot of character. Kozuka also impressed in his routine, being the only one of the Japanese trio to sucessfully complete the quad jump, a first for him in international competition.