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AKITO WATABEAGE: 28 NOC: JAPAN DISCIPLINE: NORDIC COMBINED KEY ACHIEVEMENTS: OLYMPIC SILVER MEDALLIST, 10KM NORMAL HILL (2014); WORLD CHAMPION, 4x5KM TEAM EVENT (2009)“I grew up in Nagano and started ski jumping after watching the Olympic Winter Games in 1998. I was nine years old at the time and watching the ski jumpers there made a really big impression on me. It hit me like a strong punch; I was just amazed by the sport and the Games as a whole.”INSPIRATION“At the beginning, my coach said I must do cross-country skiing as well. I didn’t really like it because it was so tiring and it wasn’t as much fun for me. But I did lots of training and my skiing improved – then it became fun and I was really enjoying cross-country skiing in competitions as well. It’s interesting really – jumping and cross-country are totally different disciplines because jumping is more about explosive power, like sprinting, and cross-country is an aerobic sport. You need different abilities for each and it’s interesting to try to improve in both of them at the same time. That’s why I like Nordic combined.”MIXING IT UPDESTINATION PYEONGCHANG48 OLYMPIC REVIEW