JAPAN AT THE OLYMPICS: Figure skating: Sato feeling fresh in 10th Winter Games

Vancouver (AFP) - Nobuo Sato is feeling fresh in his 10th Olympic Winter Games as a competitor or coach in figure skating. The 68-year-old Japanese was recently named to the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame before facing off with his daughter, former world champion Yuka Sato, as coaches in the men's competition at the Vancouver Games. "Many things are happening together here," he said after being added to the list of some 100 individuals and couples by the Hall of Fame organisation in the US city of Colorado Springs this week. "I think life is full of wonder," added Sato, whose date with the Olympics began 50 years ago when he finished 14th at the Squaw Valley Games. Sato, who has trained such high-profile Japanese skaters as his daughter, Miki Ando as well as Fumie Suguri, was cited for his "creative impact" on the sport. In Vancouver, he coaches Takahiko Kozuka, the runner-up to defending Olympic champion Yvegeny Plushenko of Russia at the Grand Prix in Moscow last October. Detroit-based Yuka, 36, minds her first full-time charge, Jeremy Abbott, after guiding him to a second US national title at Spokane in January. The men's Olympic contest is seen likely to become a free-for-all led by Plushenko. "I remember everything about my skating career. But what I remember the best is my daughter's victory at the world championships," the senior Sato said. Sato and his wife, another two-time Olympian Kumiko, coached Yuka to the 1994 world title in Japan, a month after she finished fifth at the Lillehammer Olympics. A 10-time national champion, Nobuo Sato had the best performance of his life when he finished fourth at the 1965 world championships in Colorado Springs. He also coached Suguri to fourth place at the Turin Olympics four years ago. "My dream is to stay healthy and continue doing what I do now. But I know it's getting harder for me to adjust to changes of the times." The father and daughter were seen chatting together at the boards in training sessions in Vancouver. "We just talked about technical things," Nobuo said. "My daughter used to phone me as she was worried about many things in the run-up to the US nationals," he added. "But now I think it is enough for me to watch her on the sidelines. It is no use if she doesn't learn it the hard way." His daughter said: "After I became a coach myself, I've realised how my father struggled all those years. "It is going to be a parent-child battle, indeed. But I feel really secure with my father near me in the same men's event with his ample experience."

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