Iwabuchi Reira<\/a> and Fukada Mari, and even Suzuki Momo in fourth. All four have been named to the team for Milano Cortina in what is being billed as Japan’s best-ever female quartet at an Olympic Games.<\/p>\nIn November, Murase set another benchmark by becoming the first woman to land a backside triple cork 1620 in training.<\/p>\n
And on 24 January at the X Games Aspen, Murase pulled it off in competition for the first time in history. She plans to attempt it at Milano Cortina and if successful, should give propel her to gold.\u00a0<\/p>\n
None of this, however, seems to be going to Murase\u2019s head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI try to be kind. I\u2019m not sure if I actually am but I always try to be grateful,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m grateful to be where I am and grateful that I get to do something I love in snowboarding. I\u2019m grateful for the little things.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just really appreciate the life I have.\u201d<\/p>\n
Murase has a legitimate chance to become Japan\u2019s first female snowboard gold medallist. Should she manage to pull it off, the circus surrounding her won\u2019t compare to what it was four years ago when she won bronze. The roof will blow.<\/p>\n
But even if she does, it\u2019s hard to imagine Murase losing herself. Bigger fame, the endorsement deals, the celebrity hangouts. She will probably dabble in them all, but not enough to change who she is.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like to think I\u2019m very positive,” Murase said. “If I can\u2019t land a trick I won\u2019t hesitate to change it. I just don\u2019t like being down. I annoy myself if I am. The way I see it, if I have the time being depressed or to sul, I\u2019d rather spend that time practising or trying to lift myself up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst and foremost, I want to have fun at the Olympics, take it all in. I just want to be myself when I\u2019m there. I almost want to forget that it\u2019s the Olympics and go into it like any other competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd hopefully, come away with a pairs of medals – both gold.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Murase Kokomo: Chasing history Four years ago in Beijing, Murase shot to overnight stardom in her home country…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259844,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-259843","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}