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Kenji banks on Nagano
TOKYO. Sept 18: (AP): Kenji Ogiwara. a three-time Nordic combined World Cup champion. has a slight advantage going into the Winter Olympics in Nagano: He gets to compete at home.
It could be an important edge for Ogiwara, who has failed to win the last two World Cup titles.
In Nagano, Ogiwara will be familiar with the jumping venue and the cross-country skiing course, the two parts that make up the Nordic combined competition.
"It’s so rare to be able to compete in the Olympics right at home. It'd be a waste if 1 didn't take full advantage of it," Ogiwara said.
Nagano Olympic officials are counting on a strong performance from the popular hometown boy— by far Japan's biggest star in winter sports — to ensure the success of the February 7-22 Games.
There's no doubt he'll be the local favourite, even though at times he has been controversial.
At the 1992 Albertville Olympics. Ogiwara and his teammates' unabashed elation at winning the Nordic combined team gold clashed with Japan's ideal of self-deprecating reserve.
Ogiwara also gained fame by helping to change a fundamental strategy in his sport.
He and other Japanese athletes were among the first in the world to perfect a new Jump with the skis pointing outward in a "V". rather than together side by side. That allows the jumper to glide through the air farther.
With that Jump, the Japanese broke into a sport that had long been dominated
by the Scandinavians.
Now. at 27, Ogiwara faces a host of rivals who have mastered that technique.
Recently, he has been finding it increasingly difficult to win event after event, a feat that is essential for the World Cup.
After clinching three con-secutlve World Cup titles (1993-1995). Ogiwara placed second in 1996. defeated by his longtime rival. Norwegian Knut Tore Apeland.
Many blamed that loss on a thumb injury. But Ogiwara’s performance fell short in most of this year's World Cup events as well. He finished sixth overall, and the title went to Finland's Stimppa Lajunen, then only 17.
"Up to now. youth kept me going. Subconsciously, I’m starting to concentrate on certain events that I really want to win, while holding myself back in others." said Ogiwara, a slight, wiry man with a quick smile.
Last winter, Japanese media reported that Lajunen had called Nordic combined athletes older than 20 over the hill. But he dismissed that as "a misunderstanding."
"It doesn't matter what is your age. if you're jumping and skiing well." Lajunen said later.
Ogiwara said the reported remark never bothered him. But he was grateful for the boost in confidence he got from his win at the 1997 World Championships in Norway in February.
"I realised I could still do it." Ogiwara said. "And there'll be another chance for me to be No. 1 again."
An Individual Olympic medal would be a first for Ogi wara. although he has two team golds from Albertville and Lillehammer.
In addition to his younger rivals. Ogiwara faces a different
kind of challenge from the International Ski Federation.
The federation, based in Oberhofen. Switzerland, has made some rule changes that have proved devastating for the Japanese, who tend to be strong Jumpers.
In Nordic combined, the athletes have always ski-Jumped first, and their performance determined their starting position in the 15-kilometre crosscountry race that followed.
For years, the athletes used their best two of three Jumps In the competition. Beginning In 1993, only two Jumps were allowed. And in 1994, the rules were changed again so that good jumps offered less of a head start in the cross-country competition.