People :
Participated in the cross-country skiing at The 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.
Mr. Nobu Naruse

Mr. Nobu Naruse Born in Nagano Prefecture, 1984. Graduated from Nagano Prefectural Iiyama-Minami High School. Currently a senior in the School of Sports Science in the seminar of Prof. Yasuo Kawakami. Took the first places of both male sprint and 30km freestyle at the All-Japan Students' Ski Championship, which was held in last January. In March, he won the men's 50km freestyle at the 84th All-Japan Ski Championship. His hobbies are sports and listening to music.

He didn't flip or get nervous at the stage of the Olympics, the greatest sports festival, in which everyone involved in sports dreams of participating. “There wasn't any difference between the Olympic games and usual games. What I do is always the same, so I conditioned myself and composed my thoughts before the event,” he said calmly. “I thought I shouldn't be nervous because I was feeling that I squeaked into the Olympics.” The games in which he challenges the world don't make him nervous; rather the games which he has to win make him nervous. His eyes, with a strong will, let us know his strength of having challenged the world.

This year, he is the captain of the ski team. He is not too nervous about being in this hard position, where he has to care not only about himself but also about others. “Members of our ski club have definite individual goals, so I just want them to practice with those goals in mind. I also think about my own goals before thinking about others.” There are no unreasonable hierarchical relationships among the members; the atmosphere is very friendly. That may be why this team can maintain a high level confidence.

Mr. Naruse likes all kinds of sports; he played soccer and swam he graduated from junior high school. He chose skiing because his record was better there than in other sports. After competitions, he often starts to think about giving up skiing. What makes him continue to ski is his feeling that skiing is the most important thing in his life. Since there are not enough cross-country coaches, he has to struggle a lot. But he rather enjoys the trial and error method of achieving a good result.

“I had always dreamed of participating in the Olympic Games. When I participated, there were frustrating times, but I realized that there were a lot of people supporting and cheering me. ” Mr. Naruse, who always has ambitious goals and makes efforts to achieve them, has just started planning for the new season. His vigorous eyes are aimed at the next dream.