Akito Watabe holding a silver medal at the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics during the medal awards ceremony for the Nordic combined individual normal hill (Kyodo News)
On January 20, the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) identified a total of 260 athletes, directors, and coaches who will participate at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics as the Japanese delegation, and it was announced that Akito Watabe (affiliated with the Kitano Construction Corp. Ski Club, graduated from the School of Sport Sciences in 2011), a Waseda University alumnus and competitor in the Nordic combined event, will serve as a flag-bearer.
Previous Waseda University-affiliated flag bearers for the Japanese delegation include Yui Susaki (4th-year student in the School of Sports Sciences) who served as a flag-bearer at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Waseda University alumni Koyo Iwabuchi and Mami Tani who served as flag-bearers at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, and Momoka Muraoka (1st-year doctoral student in the Graduate School of Sports Sciences) who served as a flag-bearer at the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympics. Having Waseda University-affiliated individuals selected as flag-bearers at the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympics, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, and the Beijing 2022 Olympics is an honor.
At the opening ceremony on February 4, Watabe will serve as a flag-bearer with Arisa Go, a competitor in speed skating, and will lead the Japanese delegation as they make their entrance.
Watabe, who is competing in his fifth consecutive Olympics since the Turin 2006 Winter Olympics, has won two consecutive silver medals in the individual normal hill event at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics and the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics. At the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, he is scheduled to compete in the men’s normal hill, the men’s large hill, and the men’s group large hill, and is looking to win a long-sought gold medal.
