ski like a girl profiles Kazuhiro Koshi One Winter, Five Dreams

"One Winter, Five Dreams" Panasonic Vancouver 2010 Athletes Blog

"The five athletes we have chosen to introduce here have overcome a variety of adverse circumstances in seeking the opportunity to compete in the Olympic Games.They may not be “star” athletes, but like every Olympic contender they have a dramatic story to tell. About having meager finances and putting one’s entire resources intro training. About battling the barrier of an aging body before even beginning to face one’s rivals in sport. About going to the Olympic Winter Games from a country without snowfall.And like every athlete who aims for the Olympic Games, they each cherish a special dream in their hearts.It is the strength to believe in one’s dream that makes it possible to keep on trying and overcome all types of adversity. We want to put these athletes in the spotlight and share their dreams and passion for Olympic competition.

Please add your comments to their blogs. Your voice of encouragement will cheer them on to pursue their dreams of Olympic gold. It will help them stay energized, motivated and focused on winning. In this way, you can participate in the human drama of making dreams come true and the thrill of victory.The Olympic Games are a magnificent stage where athletes and their supporters from around the world can celebrate sports together regardless of national borders and cultural differences."

Here is the fifth of the five athletes.

Kazuhiro Koshi

Japan

Skeleton

The following is from Kazuhiro Koshi's facebook page.


Kazuhiro Koshi (Japan) Born in 1964, Nagano, Japan. Age 45
Kazuhiro aimed for the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympic Games as a bobsleigh contender but did not qualify. After this, he turned his efforts to skeleton. But he endured a lonely fight as there were no coaches let alone skeleton athletes.
As skeleton is a minor sport, he faced many setbacks. Although he continued to experience many difficulties such as changing jobs, and also losing jobs, his spirit of defiance transformed such adversities into energy.

Kazuhiro grew up in a town in the mountains and since his childhood, he had longed to see what was on the other side of mountains. In the same way, his motivation in continuing this sport was a strong yearning for the big stage abroad.

In 1999, he became the first Japanese to win at the Nagano World Cup. He also competed in the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympic Games as well as the 2006 Torino Winter Olympic Games. The lone athlete has no eye for rivals, aiming for a medal as the oldest athlete to represent Japan at the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games.

This is Koshi's Happy New Year post on his One Winter, Five Dreams blog.

It is not easy realizing your dreams.

But I will never give them up and I'll keep challenging myself to achieve them.
I believe by doing that, I can inspire dreams, courage, and hopes to many people everywhere.
I appreciate everyone's continued encouragement.
Let us all achieve our dreams together.

Please join ski like a girl in supporting Koshi's Olympic dreams!

Check out Koshi's blog and share you words of support and encouragement as he continues to focus on his dream. And wish me luck in my dream of becoming the Gold Blogger so I can go to the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and continue cheering on all of the amazing athletes.

Here's the info on the Gold Blogger.

"Panasonic also is conducting a global campaign to select a "Gold Blogger" from among the general web users who share Panasonic's passion and help promote the blog, through their blogging and/or other social media activities. Panasonic will provide a place for the Gold Blogger to exhibit his/her skills.
The selected Gold Blogger will be sent to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games to cheer for the athletes and blog about the athletes' activities and competitive performances. The Gold Blogger will represent all who wrote support messages on the website and hand deliver these messages to the athletes. Roundtrip airfare, local accommodation and Game tickets will be provided by Panasonic Corporation!!!!

xoxo,
ski girl
p.s. Check back tomorrow at ski like a girl for more on One Winter, Five Dreams. I'll let you know how my application turned out for the Gold Blogger contest!