Kobayashi followedLindvikto complete the program
andtriedtomakeupthedeficitnewlycreated,buthisjump
of 138 meters proved merely very, verygood.“In terms of
my performance,”hesaid afterward, “it was averygood
jump,and Lindvikhad such agreat jump, so todayI
completelywasdefeatedbyLindvik.”
“Itwas veryclose between firstand second,”Lindvik
said.“It’shardtosay, topointoutonethingthatseparates
it.Idon’treallyknow.It’sclose.”
Justthreemenhaveeversweptthenormalhill(90me-
ters or 295.3feet) and the largehill (120 meters or
393.7feet)inoneOlympicssincethenormalhillwasadded
at Innsbruck1964, and of course they’re all European:
Finland’s MattiNykanenat Calgary1988, Switzerland’s
SimonAmmannatSaltLakeCity2002andVancouver 2010
and Poland’s Kamil Stoch at Sochi 2014,withStoch going
ahead and winningthe largehill again in 2018 and
finishingfourth in the largehill Saturdaynight here,just
behindbronzemedalistKarlGeigerofGermany.
Stochsmiledanywayuponcompletionofanothergoatit
at 34, and soon came the firstlargehill medal stand
withouthimsincewaybackin2010.Asthemedalistsstood
andwavedtoreceivetheirOlympicmascottrinkets—the
medal ceremonyhappenslater —Kobayashi certainly
didn’t look to have even one jot of disappointmentas he
answeredhis introduction with ahigh and sprightlyhop
ontotheplatform.He haswon26WorldCupeventssince
his 10th-placefinish at PyeongChang 2018, and his per-
formanceenticedenoughthatyoumightgoaheadandlook
forwardtoMilanoCortina2026inItaly.
“Mythoughtsand my mood were the same as usual”
duringthecompetition,hesaid.“Iwassolookingforward
tojumping.”
Of course,Lindvik,younger by twoyears, still will be
only27inItalyandsomeonetowatchaswell,aswhenthe
greatAmmann,nowadays40,watchedbesidethehilland,
accordingtoareporterinthenewsconference,notedithad
been“againayoungandwildonewhowins.”Ammannwas
20whenheupandstunnedSaltLakeCityin2002and28
when he made NorthAmerica his happy place again at
Vancouver2010afteralullamidhiscareerthatmadehim
say, “NowI’mbackontopoftheworld.”
“IalwayswatchedhimontelevisionwhenIwasyoung,”
saidLindvik,whoremainsyoung.“Isawhimwinthegold
medal.Yeah,maybeI’mthenewwildone.”
Thatwinninglastjumphadbeenmasterfulatprecisely
the right momentso thathepumped his fistsand
screamed,knowinghe would be hard to top, justas
Kobayashi’sfirstjump had been mostmasterful at pretty
close to the right momentso thatheexulted, knowinghe
wouldbehardtotop.
Hewouldnotnotchtheemphaticsweepofthetwogolds,
buthedidcometantalizinglyclose,sowhenheenteredthe
media center with his trinket tucked in his bib, and he
finished his answersand walked out, the Japanese media
applaudedhim, and he waved ajauntywave, having
representedJapan and six yearningcontinentswith the
brioofsomeonewhocanjumpoffamountainwiththebest
ofthem.I
nastrangeworld in which almostnobodycan jump
offthe sidesofmountainssuccessfullyexcept for
thoseononecontinent(Europe),theothersixconti-
nentsgotabig,brightboltofhopeSaturdaynightat
theskijump.Somebodyfromsomewhereotherthan
Europelooked primedto complete asweep of both gold
medalsinthemen’sindividualpursuits.
Anditwasn’tjustsomebody.Itwasoneofthesparkling
stars of the Beijing Olympics,a25-year-old phenom from
northern Japan with an unmistakablepanacheto him.
AlreadyRyoyu Kobayashi had won the men’s normal hill
individualFeb. 6; now he swiped agood chunk of alead
afterthefirstoftwojumpsinthemen’slargehillindividu-
al,oneoftheoldestcompetitionsintheWinterOlympics,
datingfromthebeginningatChamonix,France,in1924.
Kobayashigotthatleadwiththebestjumpanyonehad
allnightundertheawesomevenuestructurethatlookslike
some hoveringspaceship,and when he landed at 142me-
tersandbeamedhischarisma,itseemedworthwhilejustto
haveventuredtothejoint.Italsoseemedhehadbeenonto
somethingwhenhehadshowedthecapacitytowinkand
hadachievedpuckishnessbytellingtheJapanesemedia,“I
mightbethebeastoftheseOlympics.”
Thensomeofthefinestsuspenseyoucangetin8-degree
weather distilled to twolastjumps: Norway’s Marius
LindvikandKobayashi.
ThentheEuropeancamesoaringdown,wordsthatline
thehistoryofthesport.
Then Kobayashi had both asilvermedal and an Olym-
picsmerelyabsolutelyfantastic,himselfthelatestemblem
of how Japan has ridden the unforgivingroads right into
this Eurocentricsporteversince Yukio Kasaya won the
normalhill as ahometown superman50 years agoat
Sapporo1972.Sincethen,Japanhasaccumulated13more
medalsamongmen’s,women’s andteamevents,withtwo
jumpersgoinggold-silverinasingleOlympics:Kazuyoshi
FunakiatNagano1998andnowKobayashirighthere.
It’s no wonderthatNoriaki Kasai, the jumperwho
competed in acan’t-be-trueeight Olympicsbetween 1992
and2018andwhodoesTVcommentaryhere,gotquotedin
the Japan Times saying thatupon Kobayashi’swin in the
normalhill, “I have shed all the tears Ihad in store; I’m
superhappy.”
Of course,Europeanshave 143ofthe 159medals ever
awarded in the sport, the latestgold going to another
memberof the Norwegian WinterOlympics dynasty.
Lindvik’sfinaltripdownthehillwroughtagaspfromthe
sparsecrowdofChinesecitizensswayingbackandforthto
musictostaymaybeevenalmostwarm.Thatjumpcovered
140meters, adding to the 140.5 Lindvikrecordedon the
first,andwhenalltheotherscoringfactorsgotcomputed,
hehadedgedKobayashi,goingfroma147.0-144.8deficitto
a296.1-292.8win.
That,too, had significance, albeit nitpicky: It became
Norway’s firstgoldinthe largehill since 1964, which is
sayingsomethingconsideringtheNorwegianshoggedthe
firstsixgoldsawardedfrom1924to1952,havinginvented
thesportwhenaNorwegiandudenamedOlafRyedecided
in1808thatjumpingoffamountainsoundedsortofcool.SUNDAY,FEBRUARY 13 , 2022
KLMNO
beijing Olympics
EZ M2
In ski jumping,
Europe is still
king of the hill
Japan’sKobayashichallengesforsweep,
butNorway’sLindviktakesgoldinfinalKAI PFAFFENBACH/REUTERS
BYCHUCKCULPEPPER
IN ZHANGJIAKOU,CHINANorway
GOLD SILVER BRONZE TOTAL
83617Germany
GOLD SILVER BRONZE TOTAL
85114Austria
GOLD SILVER BRONZE TOTAL
46414Liveupdates:For analysisand
resultsthroughoutthe Games,
visitwashingtonpost.com/olympics
Medalleadersas of 11:45p.m. SaturdayJapan’s Ryoyu Kobayashi tooksilver in the
largehillfinal, finishing less thanfour
points behind Norway’s MariusLindvik.