Freestyle skier Tae Satoya came up short in her bid to repeat as Olympic champion Saturday, but she still managed a place on the medals podium, taking the bronze medal in the moguls event at the Salt Lake City Games.
Satoya, who became the first Japanese woman to win a gold medal at a Winter Olympics four years ago in Nagano, said she was still thrilled to be able to take a medal back to Japan.
"The color is different from what I won in Nagano, but I'm still very happy," the 25-year-old Hokkaido native said. "In Nagano, I felt like my father (who died of cancer in July 1997) helped me win that medal. This time I wanted to get a medal on my own.
"I feel like I did this through my own power and with the help of my coach Steve (Fearing). I want to place this medal next to my father's altar when I return to Japan."