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Masahiko Harada

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This article is about the ski jumper. For the boxer, see Fighting Harada.
Masahiko Harada
原田 雅彦
Country Japan
Full name原田 雅彦
Born (1968-05-09) 9 May 1968 (age 56)
Kamikawa, Japan
Height1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Personal best197 m (646 ft)
Planica, 18-21 March 1999
World Cup career
Seasons1987–1988
1990–2003
Starts211
Podiums21
Wins9
Medal record
Men's ski jumping
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1998 Nagano Team LH
Silver medal – second place 1994 Lillehammer Team LH
Bronze medal – third place 1998 Nagano Individual LH
FIS Nordic World Ski Championships
Gold medal – first place 1993 Falun Individual NH
Gold medal – first place 1997 Trondheim Individual LH
Silver medal – second place 1997 Trondheim Individual NH
Silver medal – second place 1997 Trondheim Team LH
Silver medal – second place 1999 Ramsau Team LH
Bronze medal – third place 1999 Ramsau Individual NH
Updated on 10 February 2016.

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, which cost the Japanese national team a victory, and his subsequent redemption at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano; the latter of which led to him being affectionately called "Happy Harada".[1]

Career

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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.[2]

Four years later Harada would again have his chance to contribute a gold for his team, 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 team gold medal for Japan.

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.[3][4]

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.

World Cup

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Standings

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

Wins

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No. Season Date Location Hill Size
1 1995/96 8 December 1995   Austria Villach Villacher Alpenarena K90 NH
2 18 February 1996   United States Iron Mountain Pine Mountain Ski Jump K120 LH
3 1 March 1996   Finland Lahti Salpausselkä K90 (night) NH
4 3 March 1996   Finland Lahti Salpausselkä K114 LH
5 1997/98 8 December 1997   Austria Villach Villacher Alpenarena K90 NH
6 12 December 1997   Czech Republic Harrachov Čerťák K90 NH
7 21 December 1997   Switzerland Engelberg Gross-Titlis-Schanze K120 LH
8 11 January 1998   Austria Ramsau Mattenschanze K90 NH
9 13 March 1998   Norway Trondheim Granåsen K120 LH

References

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  1. ^ "Masahiko Harada – From Meltdown to Marvelous" Archived 2018-07-10 at the Wayback Machine. olympics30.com. Retrieved 2015-05-13.
  2. ^ John Walters (February 4, 1998). "1998 Nagano Olympics-Masahiko Harada". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on July 12, 2001.
  3. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-10-26. Retrieved 2010-01-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ "Torino 2006 Official Report - Ski Jumping" (PDF). Torino Organizing Committee. LA84 Foundation. March 2009. Retrieved May 20, 2009.
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