Move Overseas Seen Helping Japan Win Olympic Equestrian Medal
Paris, July 29 (Jiji Press)--Japan clinched bronze in equestrian team eventing at the Paris Games Monday, the Asian country's first Olympic medal in 92 years in the sport dominated by the Western world, with the feat attributed to efforts to bring athletes overseas.
The last time Japan won a medal in an Olympic equestrian event was back in 1932, when Takeichi Nishi, better known as "Baron Nishi," claimed gold in show jumping in the Los Angeles Olympics held that year.
"This is a sport that the Europeans dominate," Yoshiaki Oiwa, 48, the oldest member of the Japan squad, said after winning bronze on Monday. "We started off wanting to compete for an upper spot on the leaderboard."
A teary-eyed Oiwa said, "We've spent decades to get where we are today."
The eventing team competition is made up of dressage, cross country and jumping phases.
Japan's eventing team journey looked solid in the Paris Olympics when the country ranked third following the second phase of cross country, after clear rounds by Oiwa and Kazuma Tomoto.
Japan, however, was forced to start the third and final phase of jumping in fifth place as it took penalties for a horse substitution after one horse failed to pass the pre-competition inspection.
Despite this, the Japanese team, which is nicknamed "Shoro Japan" (Aging Japan) as the average age of its members is 41.5, still managed to secure a medal in the end, with the three running almost perfectly in the final race.
Equestrian made its Olympic debut at the 1900 Paris Olympics.
While both men and women can compete on equal terms in equestrian now, the sport started off as being limited to male military personnel, with Japan's Nishi being no exception. Nishi was killed in action on the Pacific island of Iwoto, also known as Iwojima, in Japan in 1945 near the end of World War II.
Since Nishi's medal, the country had struggled in the Olympic sport.
Japan being an island nation had been a major obstacle to the country's success on the international stage, with the sport in an Olympic setting adopting the British riding style and focused in Europe.
The sport itself provides a tricky environment for Japan, given the difficulty of transporting horses.
The Asian nation has faced a tough task of creating an environment of nurturing international competitiveness, due to the issue of transporting horses, as well as the hefty transportation costs and quarantine procedures.
Oiwa brought changes to Japan's decades of equestrian lull.
After moving his activity base as an equestrian to Europe in 2001, he started leaving a string of accolades behind, partly thanks to being paired with excellent horses.
Given the nickname "Yoshi" by those around him, Oiwa blended into European soil, helping change how Japanese equestrians were perceived.
In 2013, Tokyo was selected to host the 2020 Summer Olympics.
This created a massive boost to nurture Japanese equestrians, with many athletes relocating to outside Japan through support mainly by the Japan Racing Association.
All four Shoro Japan members of Oiwa, Tomoto, Toshiyuki Tanaka and Ryuzo Kitajima are based in Britain, an equestrian eventing powerhouse.
Monday's bronze medal was apparently a fruit of the support for Japanese equestrians and other changes to their environment.
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