Keiichiro Nagashima (silver), Tae-Bum Mo (gold), and Joji Kato (bronze). Men's 500m speed skating. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)
February 16, 12:53 AM
By Joshua Williams
Japan won its first medals in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics – a silver and bronze – in the men’s 500m speed skating race on February 15th.
Japan’s Keiichiro Nagashima took Silver with a two race combined time of 69.98 seconds, just +.16 seconds slower than gold medal winner Tae-Bum Mo of South Korea.
Joji Kato took the bronze with a combined time of 70.01, +.19 seconds behind the gold.
Two other Japanese athletes, Yuya Oikawa and Akio Ohta, finished 13th with a time of 70.42 and 17th with a time of 70.66, respectively.
After learning of their victories, both athletes skated around the race rink waving the Japanese flag in celebration. Supporters back in the two athletes’ hometowns and work places cheered, shouted, and banged noise-makers together. NHK newscasters in Japan showed messages sent in via the internet and fax by fans shortly the news broke, “Congratulations, everyone’s so happy,” one person wrote.
Nagashima commented to TV reporters, “Of course I wanted the gold, but I’m extremely happy to have taken a medal.”
Both Nagashima and Kato belong to a speed skating team sponsored by Nidec Sankyo Corporation. Nidec Sankyo has four speed skaters total participating in this year’s games.
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