As players gathered at their respective blue lines to honor their opponents following the game, Michelle Karvinen of Finland immediately noticed Japan captain Chiho Osawa growing emotional across the way.
Karvinen for a moment put aside the joy of Finland advancing to the Olympic women’s hockey semi-finals after a 7-1 win on Saturday that eliminated Japan.
She led a group of teammates through the neutral zone to console Osawa, whom the Finns have come to know and respect while playing with her for Lulea of the Swedish league over the past three years.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“Seeing her like that on the blue line really took me in the heart,” Karvinen said. “So as soon as I saw it, as soon as we said thanks for the game, I wanted to go and just give her a big hug.”
One by one, six Finns skated over before they did a group hug, which nearly smothered Osawa along the boards near the penalty box. Some tapped the captain on the head, Ronja Savolainen wrapped her arm around Osawa’s neck and everyone made sure to offer words of encouragement before leaving the ice.
What struck Karvinen was knowing the pain of being eliminated at the Olympics.
“It’s probably my worst moments in my career, so being able to go there right away and show her comfort was really important for all of us that know her,” she said.
It was not lost on the Finns that the Beijing Games could be the third and last for Osawa, who turned 30 on Thursday and has captained Japan since 2013.
“It has really been an honor to get to know her,” Finland captain Jenni Hiirokoski said. “She’s really a good teammate and a nice person and we are proud of how she has led team Japan here.”
Japan finished sixth for the third time in four Olympic appearances, while Finland advanced to play the US in the semi-finals today.
For the many rivalries there are in hockey between countries — Canada and the US, Finland and the Russians or Swedes — there are also bonds that form between players in a sport with limited places for women to play.
Aside from the Swedish league, Russia has a women’s league and there is the Premier Hockey Federation in North America, which is made up of mostly North Americans, but attempts to attract more international players.
The COVID-19 pandemic also has played havoc with schedules and limited the number of times competing countries could meet over the past few years.
“I think it’s one of the most beautiful things about sports. It’s the bonds you build both with teammates, but also opponents throughout the years,” Karvinen said.
“She’s probably the most humble player I have ever played with, just always working hard and treating people with so much respect,” she added. “I really admire her as a person.”
Her eyes still noticeably red from tears, Osawa spent a lengthy stretch conducting interviews with the media following the game.
“They say you have to be proud of it, and proud of the team,” Osawa said in English of what the Finns told her. “I’m happy, but I really wanted to win — and want to play more games.”
She then turned to a team official for translation, when asked how meaningful it was to be consoled by her opponents.
“I’m so happy and proud of them,” Osawa said through the interpreter. “I wish they would win the next game.”
When Kim Ye-ji first tried shooting at age 12 she could not lift the gun. Now, she is the world’s most Internet-famous Olympic shooter, thanks to her steel nerves — and Elon Musk. Kim, 32, won silver in the women’s 10m air pistol at the Paris Olympics this summer and captured the Internet’s attention with her nonchalant cool. However, she said she fell into her sport by accident. When her middle-school teacher asked for volunteers to try shooting, Kim did not raise her hand, but was selected anyway. Despite being too small to hoist the pistol, she was hooked. “I thought it looked
Taiwanese swimmer Hsu Wen-erh on Monday finished her solo swim around Manhattan Island to become the first Taiwanese and only the 334th person to finish the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming, after abandoning her first attempt in New York on Sunday. “Who says, I’ll come back couldn’t means the next day?” she wrote on Facebook on Monday, after returning to the water to complete New York’s 48.5km 20 Bridges Swim, the final leg of her Triple Crown campaign. Trailed by a kayak flying Taiwan’s national flag, Hsu went on to finish the brutal swim in 9 hours, 5 minutes, to capture
LISBON UPSET: Feyenoord’s coach said that his players might not have realized what they had achieved in winning away against Portuguese giants SL Benfica MANCHESTER, England, and LISBON Erling Haaland on Wednesday scored an outrageous backheel volley in the UEFA Champions League to issue a timely reminder of his own credentials as a potential Ballon d’Or winner. A day after Vinicius Junior hit a hat-trick for Real Madrid, Haaland scored an early contender for goal of the season with his acrobatic effort in Manchester City’s 5-0 win against Sparta Prague. Vinicius Junior is the favorite to win soccer’s most prestigious individual prize, which is to be presented at a gala ceremony in Paris on Monday, but Haaland, who was runner-up to Lionel Messi for last year’s award,
Although Shohei Ohtani’s first trip to the Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series is a global sports event, it is particularly big in Japan. Fans from Ohtani’s home nation bought more World Series tickets for the first two games than from anywhere outside North America, ticket broker StubHub said. Dodger Stadium was packed to the rafters on Friday night for the start of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ showdown with the New York Yankees. “Ohtani’s first season with the Dodgers drew big international appeal, especially from his home country of Japan,” StubHub spokesperson Adam Budelli said. “At the beginning of the season, buyers from