Olympic gold-winning duo Kazuyoshi Funaki and Masahiko Harada were named Monday to Japan's ski jumping team for next month's Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
Funaki, who won both large hill individual and team golds at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, and Harada were among five ski jumpers selected by the Ski Association of Japan, along with veteran Noriaki Kasai, Hideharu Miyahira and rising star Hiroki Yamada.
Large hill bronze medalist Harada, who was also a member of the gold-winning team, and Kasai will both be appearing in their fourth straight Winter Olympics.
Nineteen-year-old Nagano native Yamada, a fourth place finisher on the World Cup circuit this season, will be getting his first taste of Olympic action.
Kazuhiro Koshi will be competing in the men's skeleton event, making its first appearance at the Olympics in 54 years, and Eiko Nakayama was chosen for the women's event among 13 members selected by the Japan Bobsleigh and Luge Federation.
Hiroshi Suzuki was named to the bobsled team for the third time, and will be joined by former Japan national team American footballer Nachi Abe, while Nagano Olympians Shigeaki Ushijima and Yumie Kobayashi will represent Japan in the men's and women's luge events, respectively.
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