Some of Japan's paralympians.
Mitsuru Nagase
Native of Asahikawa in Hokkaido. Nagase is the goalkeeper on Japan's ice sledge hockey team. Vancouver is his third Paralympic appearance. He actually got into disability sports while an exchange student in Canada, and works hard in his home town to promote sports activities for persons with disabilities. He's a director of the Japan Paralympian Association.
The cover of a book by Kuniko Obinata -- Walls are made to be broken down
Obinata was born in Tokyo and suffered loss of her legs in a traffic accident at age three. She graduated from the law faculty at Chuo University in 1996. She is now a member of the Japan Paralympic Committee's steering committee.
She started alpine skiing while still in high school and represented Japan in her first Paralympics at Lillihammer in 1994. She's been on the team ever since. Vancouver is her fifth appearance as a representative of Japan in alpine ski events.
Kenji Takigami -- Crosscountry skier
Born in Hokkaido, Takigami now lives in Aichi prefecture. While automobiles are Takigami's hobby, his real love is reserved for crosscountry skiing. This time, there was a moment when Takigami thought maybe his prosthetics would not be ready for competition, but with help from Japanese residing in Canada, and from the coach of the Japanese team, he was able to get ready by competition time.
More about Japanese para athletes in days to come.
NPO STAND's Kazuko Ito left yesterday for Vancouver. Athletes Villagewill carry blogs from her and I'll put the interesting portions into English for you who don't read Japanese.
No comments:
Post a Comment