Ter Mors gets gold; Kodaira wins silver, Takagi bronze in 1,000-meter speedskating

Instead of commenting on the Japanese skater's failure why not emphasize the achievement of winning a silver olympic medal. Do you not remember the suicides after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics? I can't help but feel that this is totally irresponsible reporting

Would indeed have praised the others as well tough good on the others winning Olympic medal isn't a small feat glad my home country took gold but still.

Funny how oddily upset they look to have gotten silver and bronze.

I think they are total champs!

It is called attitude and cockyness.

The Silver should be jumping for joy as well, but instead she will probably cry. Sad.

GER 2. NED 3. NOR 4. CAN - only fourth in medal count so far. Sad! Alas, there is yet time...

Instead of commenting on the Japanese skater's failure why not emphasize the achievement of winning a silver olympic medal. Do you not remember the suicides after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics? I can't help but feel that this is totally irresponsible reporting

Exactly! I was going to say the same thing. She won silver. That's NO failure by any standard. Bronze as well. Look at the title:

Kodaira wins 1,000 silver, Takagi bronze

The title is NOT Kodaira LOSES 1,000 silver, Takagi bronze

What a shame that they can't enjoy such success.

It seems Japanese are brainwashed to get a gold medal as only winner medal while hard training.

I'm sure she is happy with silver but sad about her record being broken. Anyway congrats to them and my fellow Dutchie for grabbing the gold.

0.26 of a second is very very close, I can’t help wondering if Ter Mors had the same leg length as Nao and Miho-san if it would have been a different outcome. Both the Japanese girls would have given 200% effort so in my book they are both incredible athletes and both winners! Well done to all three!

Dukeleto - you sound like a Wide Show analyst - lol.

0.26 secs is very close but it still is about 2-3 meters, so if they raced together it would appear as if Ter Mors won comfortably.

And the same leg length??????

You do know that Kodaira is the current World champion over 1000mtrs and holder of the WORLD Record for 1,000mtrs?

And she is the favourite for the 500mtrs.

And the wide show reports have gotten better over the years (less giggly airheads) but they still try to extract reasons for failure by the local athletes, failiing to realize there is an equally or more so impressive story to be heard from the other side. Ter Mors victory for example - coming back from severe injuries, couldn't even make the 1,500mtr team, her specialty, so worked gruelingly hard to make the 1,000mtr and slipped under the radar. A story of incredible grit and achievement that you are not likely to hear much about here.

And I wish Kodaira all the best for the 500. She can do it for sure.

I wish Japanese TV Olympic coverage would occasionally recognise that there are also non-Japanese competitors.

It is called attitude and cockyness.

The Silver should be jumping for joy as well, but instead she will probably cry. Sad.

It's called the pressure of a whole nation who know you are the world record holder and expect you to bring home the gold. Much like Yoshida in the summer Olympics, Kodaira was made captain as she was the most dominate Japanese athlete heading into the games (maybe they should give some joe schmo that honor next time). Unlike Yoshida though, she doesn't have a gold yet so here's hoping she nabs the 500m gold.

dukeleto:

I can’t help wondering if Ter Mors had the same leg length as Nao and Miho-san

Yada yada yada. Don't tell me, if the ice was made to Japanese standards, a Japanese skater would have won. Non-Japanese skaters just don't gambarimasu like the Japanese.

theeastisred:

I wish Japanese TV Olympic coverage would occasionally recognise that there are also non-Japanese competitors.

That's why I sold my TV years ago. I occasionally watch the coverage on BBC and read other sources. They, at least, show other countries - they even showed the pairs figure skating even though I didn't see one British skater in sight.

Yeah, the two Japanese skaters don't look happy at all.

DesignerToday 06:55 am JSTInstead of commenting on the Japanese skater's failure why not emphasize the achievement of winning a silver olympic medal

but there is something about living up to expectations, though. and i think very few elite athletes, who spend countless hours training, have a goal of just coming in 2nd or 3rd.

Japanese Olympic coverage only Rivals America in terms of terrible coverage in my experience. Don't know why people getting down votes for highlighting the awful coverage Japanese TV does. There are like 5 channels showing Olympics all showing the same event or one doing a puff piece on a J-Athlethe how about mixing it up show different events on different channels? Yet NHK wants fees for this?? Cordcutting is the way to go.

Although this article probably focuses too much on Kodaira's 'failure' to get gold, I think quite a few posters on here are taking things far too literally. Being 'pleased' with silver yet slightly disappointed she didn't get gold are not mutually exclusive. She was the world record holder and wanted gold, simple as that.

Ask the All Blacks, Shaun White, Usain Bolt etc if they would be 'thrilled' with silver. They wouldn't.

Love speed skating racing suits though, great athletes!

I wish Japanese TV Olympic coverage would occasionally recognise that there are also non-Japanese competitors.

Not perfect but still ok, just depends on the sport/J athletes competing (and let's be honest all/most countries are guilty of it).

@goldorak - fair enough point. A shame they couldn't have smiled for the photo though, eh?

You win some matches, you lose some matches. Such is life. Just keep on keeping on!

theeastisredToday  09:34 am JST

I wish Japanese TV Olympic coverage would occasionally recognise that there are also non-Japanese competitors.

They do. They are called North Koreans.

Suicides after the 64 Tokyo Olympics? I thought the losers were all lined up against the wall and shot. No need to overdramatize things. 

Based on her results, everybody expected Kodaira to win, so the disappointment is understandable. Even the Dutch team thought she was the most likely candidate to take the gold. But this is the Olympics and some competitors can bring something extra. Also, Ter Mors breaking the Olympic record in a race before that of Takagi and Kodaira can’t exactly have been a confidence booster for them. 

Prediction for tonight’s men’s 10K: Netherlands takes the gold!

@Joeintokyo

I didn't downvote you, but there's actually no objective way to weight the medals. The 1,2,3 system is probably the most illogical. You are essentially saying a silver is worth 2x that of a bronze but a gold is only worth 1.5x a silver. A 1,2,4 system would make more sense, but even then why choose a 2x increment for your weighting? Why not 3x where Bronze=1, Silver=3, Gold=9. I think 3x or even 4x reflects the athletes' impression of the medal worth far more accurately. In the end there is just no way to do it objectively which is why so many rankings focus only on golds or total medals.

As an ex-boxer I think there's only one winner. There's no point for silver and bronze.

The most important thing is just people to practice Sport and have fun and get along with each other

A shame they couldn't have smiled for the photo though, eh?

@maria, dunno tbh. I just want her to be herself and if that means no smile nor cute pose for the media/sponsors so be it. Plus it's a bit of a 'damned if you do/damned if you don't' situation as fans/media could take it (a smile) as a lack of ambition, 'she didn't want it enough' etc.

I beg to differ. At this very moment I am watching on NHK live coverage of women skiing down a hill, while occasionally switching to one of the commercial channels that is showing curling, also live. They are not simultaneously showing the same event. I’ve found this true every day.

@educator, they did a few days ago though (vividly remember ice hockey live on 2 channels yet no biathlon). Also don't understand why they didn't show men's downhill (one of the biggest Winter O' events) live. I get we all have a different sport culture but winter Olympics' downhill is a bit like summer O' 100m.

This is exactly why I hate things like the Olympics, this petty nationalist sulking or crowing that it inspires if a gold medal is won or lost. OTOH, these particular Olmpics have actually slowed down the US-Japan drive to launch a military attack on NK, so for once the Olympics have done some good.

Firstly I would like to congratulate the two ladies for getting silver and bronze, may be the reporter should have mentioned that they both broke both of there personal best times, ( if thats the case) the emphasis should have been distracted from LOSING may be they could have said that .2 of a second is a incredibly small margin, getting silver and bronze should not be sniffed at as it took lots and lots of training to get to this level. lets face the UK have not got ANY medals yet!.

@ kwatt

Dumb reply. Koidaira was the best on this distance all season as Ter Mors was out of shape and injured, but she peaked at the right moment for gold.

So it's obvious that the Japanese are disappointed as well as surprised. With Tagagi the same happened on the 3000 m.