Waseda Alumnus Akito Watabe wins Silver Medal in Nordic Combined at Sochi Winter Olympics
Wed, Feb 12, 2014On February 12, Akito Watabe (Bachelor of Sport Sciences 2011) won the silver medal in the Winter Olympics Nordic combined normal hill competition held at Sochi.
The Nordic combined medal was the first by a Japanese athlete in 20 years, since the gold medal by the team with Kenji Ogiwara (Bachelor of Human Sciences 1992) and individual silver by Takanori Kono (Bachelor of Human Sciences 1991) at the 1994 Lillehammer games.
Watabe started strong with second place in the jump competition, and won the silver medal after a dead-heat battle with Germany’s Eric Frenzel in the cross country ski portion. Watabe’s road to an Olympic medal was long, coming in his third Olympics, after Torino (2006) and Vancouver (2010) .
Watabe’s younger brother, Yoshito (Senior, Waseda School of Sport Sciences) placed 15th, and Hideaki Nagai (Bachelor of Human Sciences 2006) had a good showing at 22nd, impressive results on the big stage of the Olympics against world-class competition.
All three are scheduled to enter the large hill events, the individuals on February 18 and team contest on February 20. Please join us in cheering them on!
We heartily congratulate Akito Watabe on his silver medal at the Sochi Winter Olympics. The University is proud of this great feat by a Waseda alumnus.
His accomplishment has created excitement among the Waseda University community and Waseda fans everywhere, as well as giving courage, inspiration and thrills to people throughout Japan. With this great success as a foundation, we look forward to his further achievements.
Kaoru Kamata, President Waseda University
