Ammann sweeps ski jumps with victory in large hill event; Kasai 8th

"Elsewhere for Japan, Daiki Ito, who finished second behind Kasai on Friday, placed 20th but Taku Takeuchi and Shohei Tochimoto again both failed to advance to the final round after first jumps of 110.5 and 105.5 meters, respectively."

"Respectively" ? What a choke job ! I really figured Japan to medal in this event- it may now come down to the womens figure skating- and even there I can't see Japan getting gold- maybe silver or bronze. I do believe Japan will fail to win a gold at these Olympics.

What happened? I thought the J-dudes were just about a shoe-in for a medal...

The japanese mass media truely does a disservice to the public as well as the athletes. After watching the television here over the last 2 months, you would think that Jaoan has the only world class athletes. Then the olympics roll around and lo and behold, the rest of the world showed by with great competitors. No wonder the japanese people fell dissapointed and frustrated. And the press go bonkers when a local boy finished 10th.

The way the media reported the qualifying round would make you think Kasai was the top jumper. It didn't make it clear that the top jumpers were already prequalified for the final. It is a disservice that I have seen a number of times this week.

Wow... I really thought that Japan had a medal shot in this event, if not two. The local media sure made you believe the medals were already in the bag. Good job, media! Now you can be sure the media will simply remain silent on the issue and cease broadcasting of similar events.

Good job for Ammann, though.

The local media sure made you believe the medals were already in the bag.

Really smithinjapan? Which program were you watching? I was watching this one program on channel 5 (or 10, depending on where you live), and the news commentators had a fair take on it (it was only that annoying Shuzo Matsuoka who was going about it the wrong way). The news commentators were saying how they were hoping that Kasai would place, but they spotlighted the fact that the medalists in the normal hill event were favored and kept saying things like "subarashii" after Ammann's and Malysz's jumps. Yet, that annoying Shuzo kept going on and on ... Kasai looked very happy in the interview that he was able to place a respectable 8th in the event. Not down at all. Daiki Ito said that he was happy to make the finals and that he will be back (after all he is still young).

Just another chance to bash the media. How about some comments worth reading ...