Seibu Lions pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka flew into Sydney with the seven other professional baseball players on the Japanese national team Friday, two days before the start of the eight-nation Olympic baseball competition.
"Gold medal? Yes, that's what we're trying to win, I'm ready to pitch at any time," Matsuzaka told Japanese reporters upon arriving at Sydney Airport after a night flight of more than nine hours.
The 1999 Pacific League Rookie of the Year, expected to start in Sunday's opener against the United States, shrugged off questions about his recent shaky outings for the Lions.
"I don't take it very seriously. The results turned out to be poor, but I'm satisfied with my pitches fairly well," Matsuzaka said.
Matsuzaka and Tomohiro Kuroki of the Lotte Marines will form the core of Japan's starting rotation in the tournament, which also features host Australia, two-time defending Olympic champion Cuba, Italy, the Netherlands, South Africa and South Korea. The eight pros will join 16 amateur players, who arrived in Sydney on Thursday, in their first joint training sessions later Friday.
Japanese marathon hope Naoko Takahashi also arrived in the Olympic host city Friday from her training site in Colorado.
"At last, the race is just around the corner. I haven't had any conditioning problems and I just hope that I won't get injured until the race," Takahashi said.
Takahashi is one of the favorites for the Sept. 24 race.