Japanese ski jumping legends joined in hailing Ryoyu Kobayashi for becoming the first jumper from their country to top the Olympic podium in 24 years, and at the same time ending a half-century normal hill drought for Japan.
Ski Association of Japan Director Masahiko Harada, who won a gold medal in the team event on the large hill at his home Olympics in Nagano in 1998, said Kobayashi is a hero to a new generation of men's ski jumpers in Japan.
"It's a gold medal that marks the start of a new page in history, different from my generation," Harada said.
"They've looked hard for ways to improve their jumps and aimed to reach world level, and their efforts bore fruit in the form of a first gold since Nagano. It's been over 20 years and I'm really happy the young jumping heroes in the modern era wrote some new history."
Kazuyoshi Funaki, the last Japanese Olympic gold medalist in individual ski jumping, welcomed Kobayashi to the gold club with open arms and hoped more will follow.
"I'm happy we have one more gold medalist in ski jumping," Funaki said.
"It's pretty difficult to jump from the normal hill, which is not the representative hill size used in World Cups. I thought it would be a tight contest but (his performance) was beyond expectations," the large hill gold medalist in Nagano said.
Funaki was certain that Yukio Kasaya, the last Japanese normal hill winner at the Sapporo Olympics 50 years ago, would be even happier.
And he was, also sending his congratulations after Kobayashi's triumph at the Zhangjiakou National Ski Jumping Centre.
"He was terrific. I hear it's been exactly 50 years (since my gold). That's nice and that feels strange," the 78-year-old said.
"The first jump must have been the best jump (of all). He has the technique to soar that far under tailwind conditions. He's some talent."
"I hope he wins the large hill next, there's a chance if the wind is light again," he said.
Kobayashi's biggest supporter is undoubtedly evergreen 49-year-old Japanese ski jumping icon Noriaki Kasai. He was in tears as he watched his understudy at his company team fly to glory as an on-site TV commentator.
"I have shed all the tears I had in store, I'm super happy," said Kasai. "I've never had a chance to see things live in this kind of position, I'm blessed to have my protege winning the gold right in front of my eyes."
"I was holding my tears even after the first jump. I thought he's replicated my style when he said he didn't take the trial jump, I asked what happened and he said (he used) my tactics. I was happy about that."
Kobayashi said his underlying confidence was behind a decision to be the only jumper among the 50 finalists to skip the trial jump, and it was a decision that had Kasai convinced he would have a golden outcome on the night.
"I felt he must be in a really good form deciding not to jump the trial, and I was convinced he was going to win it the moment I saw him pulling out of it," said Kasai, who is still competing and even won a domestic event the previous weekend.
"I think the mental energy he conserved was on show in both of his jumps. The first one was nearly perfect."
The first athlete to compete at eight Winter Olympics after debuting in 1992 in Albertville, Kasai, the silver winner at the 2014 Games large hill, said there is more to come from Kobayashi.
"He did well to forge an unparalleled jump over the past four years. No one can beat him now," Kasai said.
"He has momentum that seems as though he is going to win the gold medal in the large hill and all the other tournaments."
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Olympics: Gold medalist Kobayashi becomes the beast to tame the beast
Olympics: Ski jumper Ryoyu Kobayashi gets Japan's 1st Beijing gold
