Japan Olympic Update

Well, the Olympics are here, and Japan is buzzing with sports fever, hoping that their athletes will do well at the games. Ryoko "Yawara-chan" Tani, the darling of the the women's Judo world, was hoping to win her third consecutive gold medal -- her slogan was "Mama demo kin!" ("Even though I'm married and am a mother now, I'm going to bring home the gold!") -- but unfortunately she came away with only a bronze this time. Other athletes hoping to shine include the super-cute "table tennis idol" Ai Fukuhara, women's freestyle wrestling champions Chiharu and Kaori Icho (who are sisters), and the badminton doubles team of Kumiko Ogura and Reiko Shiota, nicknamed "Ogushio" by fans. Japan already has two gold medals, Masato Uchishiba in men's judo and Kosuke Kitajima in the 100m breaststroke, and they're hoping to add to that tally in the next few days. We wish them luck!

Smack that ball, Ai-chan!

The Ogushio girls playing badminton. It's very intense to watch ^_^ Since they work for / are sponsored by Sanyo, they train here in Gunma Prefecture.

Chiharu Icho is the on the left. She could probably kick my butt in no time.

Ryoko Tani, whose name was Tamura before she got married, is probably the single most famous Japanese athlete, who's been a judoka since the age of five or something, kicking and throwing girls much older than her. Bummer that she didn't get her third gold.

This is Yawara!, where Ryoko gets her nickname from. I put thepic here because I like Fashionable Judo Girls.