Two of the most notable Japanese athletes over the past several Winter Games have been Midori Ito, the figure skating silver medalist at the Albertville Games in 1992, and Kenji Ogiwara, who helped Japan capture back-to-back golds in the Nordic combined team event at the Albertville and 1994 Lillehammer Games.

Ito was the reigning "jump queen" several years ago when she became the first woman skater to successfully complete a triple axel (three and a half rotations) in Olympic competition.

Ogiwara was one of the first Nordic combined athletes to master the V-style ski jump and was a dominant figure in the sport for three seasons starting in 1992. At the Nagano Games he will be shooting for his first individual gold medal. The Nordic combined is immensely popular in Scandinavia, where an Olympic winner is hailed as the "king of skiing."

Other notable Winter Games athletes in recent history include Yukio Kasaya, the gold-medal-winning member of the Japanese ski jumping team that swept all three medals in the 70-meter (normal hill) event at the 1972 Sapporo Games, and speed skater Seiko Hashimoto, who not only raced in four Olympic Winter Games but also took part in the 1992 Summer Games in Barcelona as a cyclist.