Masahiko Harada

This article is about the ski jumper. For the boxer, see Fighting Harada.
Masahiko Harada
Personal information
Full name Masahiko Harada
Born 9 May 1968
Kamikawa, Hokkaido
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Professional information
Personal best 197 m (646 ft)
Planica, Mar 1999
World Cup
Seasons 1987–1988
1990–2003
Wins 9 (+3 Team)
Additional podiums 12 (+4 Team)
Total podiums 21 (+7 Team)
Updated on 30 Mar 2015.

Masahiko Harada (原田 雅彦 Harada Masahiko, born 9 May 1968) is a Japanese former ski jumper. He is best remembered for a meltdown at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer and his subsequent redemption at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano.

Career

At the 1994 games, the Japanese team had a nearly insurmountable lead heading into the last jump of the large hill. Harada, the team's anchor, had jumped 122 meters in his previous attempt and needed only 105 meters in his final jump to clinch the gold for Japan. His jump was just shy of 97,5 meters and dropped Japan to second, with the gold going to the German team.[1]

Four years later Harada would again have his chance to deliver his team a gold, this time in his home country. His first jump of 79.5 meters knocked his team from first to fourth and brought back memories of Lillehammer. Then, on his second attempt he delivered an Olympic-record tying 137 meter jump. His teammate Kazuyoshi Funaki would then close out the event with a 125 meter jump, clinching the first Olympic ski jumping gold medal for Japan since the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo.

Along with the team gold, Harada also captured bronze in Nagano in the individual large hill after a 136 meter final jump that pushed up him from sixth to third.

Harada has competed in five of the Olympic Games. In addition to the Lillehammer and Nagano games, he competed in Albertville in 1992, Salt Lake City in 2002 and Turin in 2006.

He is a two-time FIS Nordic World Ski Championships winner (1993: individual normal hill, 1997: individual large hill), and also won three silvers (1997: Individual normal hill, 1997, 1999: Team large hill) and one bronze (1999: Individual normal hill) as well.

Olympic normal hill individual competition in Pragelato on 11 February 2006 was the last highly ranked official event where he participated - who won 2 Olympic medals in Nagano and 1 in Lillehammer - and it was after over 3 years break from participating in Ski jumping World Cup. Unfortunately for him, he was disqualified in the qualifying and did not compete in the final. Later he started only in FIS Cup event in Sapporo.[2][3]

On July 12, 2006, Harada was appointed Ambassador to the 2007 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Sapporo, Japan by the organizing committee. The 2007 Championships ran February 22-March 4, 2007.

For reasons unbeknownst to many ski-jumping fans, Harada is commonly remembered by casual Olympic viewers as Happy Hatsui.

World Cup

Standings

Season Overall SF JP 4H NT
1986–87 85 – N/A – N/A
1987–88 – – N/A 80 N/A
1989–90 52 – N/A – N/A
1990–91 – – N/A 61 N/A
1991–92 29 – N/A – N/A
1992–93 16 – N/A 6 N/A
1993–94 15 – N/A 21 N/A
1994–95 59 – N/A 64 N/A
1995–96 5 – 3rd 18 N/A
1996–97 29 – 24 42 13
1997–98 4 21 2nd 10 13
1998–99 9 8 9 8 18
1999–00 11 15 11 6 53
2000–01 26 50 N/A 21 53
2001–02 38 N/A N/A 31 59
2002–03 – N/A N/A – –

Wins

No. Season Date Place Hill Size
1 1995-96 8 Dec 1995 Austria Villach Villacher Alpenarena K-90 NH
2 18 Feb 1996 United States Iron Mountain Pine Mountain Ski Jump K-120 LH
4 1 Mar 1996 Finland Lahti Salpausselkä K-90 (night) NH
4 3 Mar 1996 Finland Lahti Salpausselkä K-114 LH
5 1997-98 8 Dec 1997 Austria Villach Villacher Alpenarena K-90 NH
6 12 Dec 1997 Czech Republic Harrachov Čerťák K-90 NH
7 21 Dec 1997 Switzerland Engelberg Gross-Titlis-Schanze K-120 LH
8 11 Jan 1998 Austria Ramsau Mattenschanze K-90 NH
9 13 Mar 1998 Norway Trondheim Granåsen K-120 LH

References

  1. ↑ John Walters (February 4, 1998). "1998 Nagano Olympics-Masahiko Harada". Sports Illustrated.
  2. ↑ http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/613.html?sector=JP&competitorid=23321&type=result&rec_start=0&limit=50
  3. ↑ "Torino 2006 Official Report - Ski Jumping" (PDF). Torino Organizing Committee. LA84 Foundation. March 2009. Retrieved May 20, 2009.