By Yuka Nakao,
Despite a disappointing exit from her sixth Winter Olympics, Japan's snowboarding matriarch Tomoka Takeuchi said she will leave the games with only great memories.
The 38-year-old Takeuchi, who was the oldest competitor in her event at the Beijing Winter Games, fell during the first round of the finals of the parallel giant slalom event on Tuesday. She was handed a DNF for impeding her opponent Ramona Theresia Hofmeister of Germany.
"I do feel frustrated about ending the Olympics like this, but over 99 percent of the times were fantastically exciting and so I would like to make that 99 percent a great memory," she said. "I am glad that I had made a comeback to the world stage."
For Takeuchi, who has competed at every Olympics since the 2002 Salt Lake City Games and has equaled the record for most participations of any snowboarder, coming to Beijing was not originally planned.
After the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics where she finished fifth when defending her silver medal won four years earlier in Sochi, she took two and a half years off competition to dedicate herself to promoting grassroots snowboarding and youth development in Japan.
Among her projects was starting a group named "&tomoka" in October 2019 to offer top-level training at the lowest possible cost.
The program was born out of her belief that "it will be irresponsible for an athlete to only be a dream maker and not one who creates a realistic environment for children to chase their dreams."
Her passion for the sport meant Takeuchi could not resist dusting off her board and boots for a comeback in the summer of 2020.
Experiencing life outside competitive snowboarding in her period away made her value her time back in the fold at Genting Snow Park more than ever, she reflected.
"Before, I felt sorry for my supporters when I couldn't achieve outstanding results," she said.
"But the experience of supporting children and other athletes competing in European cups made me fully understand that supporters don't blame athletes for not rewarding them with results."
Such realization allowed her to be at peace when she stood at the starting gate in China, she said, adding that she hopes she can share that mentality with younger athletes to help alleviate some of the pressure they experience.
When the 2026 Milano Cortina Games roll around, Takeuchi will be 42 years old and when asked whether she can keep going, she said, "It's 99 percent or 100 percent impossible to continue competing."
Even if she chooses to try, she said she would need some rest and experience in a different field first.
"That took two and a half years after Pyeongchang," she said. "So, as I did back then, I want to live as my heart leads me.
