Article by: anees

The "Loco Solare", Japan curling women's team won a silver medal at the Beijing Olympics2022.

While looking ahead and listening to the opponent's appearance, he repeatedly pushes the stone toward the goal 40 meters away. Curling is also called "chess on ice" because of its high strategy. However, there is one big difference from chess. It means that there are always teammates there.

The "Loco Solare", Japan curling women's team won a silver medal at the Beijing Olympics2022.

Everything changed for the Japan women's curling team in 2018 when Great Britain's Eve Muirhead missed a tricky shot for bronze in PyeongChang.

The Japanese, whose club team is Loco Solare, already had a devoted following, but winning a first Olympic medal took things to an entirely new level.

The 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics were greeted by athletes who grew up in areas where curling is flourishing.

At that time, as "LS Kitami", he won the bronze medal, which is Japan's first Olympic medal in curling.

It's been four years since then. The natural smiles and behaviors of the members who will be on the stage of the Olympics again will not change, but their strength will shine even more after the rugged journey of the past year while meeting the harsh marks of domestic and foreign rivals.

Led by skip Fujisawa Satsuki, the core four team members that makeup Team Fujisawa is back in Beijing in 2022 and is currently in third place with a 5-3 record and on the verge of another semi-final qualification. However, already qualified Switzerland to stand in their way, a team that denied them a World Championship title in 2016.

Ahead of that crucial match, we break down the top things you need to know about Japan's Team Fujisawa.

'Sodane': Buzzword of the year in 2018

The word "Sodane" that they used during the game, which suddenly attracted attention, was also selected for the New Words and Popular Words Award of the year.

To sum up just how popular the team was, and the attention they garnered back home in Japan during the 2018 Winter Olympics, a phrase they used throughout the competition in Pyeongchang was chosen by a Japanese publisher Jiyukokuminsha as one of the best words, to sum up, the year.

All of the team members hail from Hokkaido and were heard using the phrase 'sodane', which translates to "that's right" or "I agree", frequently. The selection of buzzword of the year was also affirmation and acknowledgment of the team's excellent communication on the ice.

Fluctuating emotions Missed consecutive victories
Japan Championship in February 2021. Loco Solare would have been able to win the right to represent Japan in the Beijing Olympics if he had won the tournament for the second time in a row.

The team that was in good shape advanced to the final after winning all six qualifying league games and the playoffs.

The opponent of the final is the Hokkaido Bank. It is a powerful team that has fought fierce battles with Skip Yoshimura Sayaka from Kitami City, Hokkaido, who is the same member of Loco Solare.

Loco Solare didn't give the Hokkaido Bank a chance to win the tournament for the second time in a row, but an unexpected accident causes a crack. It was the last shot of Yoshimura of Hokkaido Bank at the 4th end.

The movements of the Hokkaido Bank player who was sweeping and Fujisawa of Loco Solare overlapped. As a result of confirming that the opponent touched the stone, the stone that was touched was removed, and Loco Solare got 2 points at this end, but Fujisawa's play affected the opponent. I wondered if I had done it, and this time remained like a lump.

Fujisawa, who recalled that he was "confused" after the match, could not decide the final shot of the final 10th end, which he reached with a one-point lead without being able to change his mind.
The result was 6 to 7 and Loco Solare lost the game. I regretted tears from Fujisawa's eyes.

Fujisawa Satsuki

Fujisawa grew up watching her parents play the sport and by the time she was five years old, she had already joined the Tokoro Curling Club. She and her sister Shiori won back-to-back Pacific-Asia Junior Championships in 2008 and 2009.

Yoshida Sisters

The sisters grew up curling in Kitami City and started in 1998, and memorably won bronze together at PyeongChang 2018.

Chinami, the older of the two, is a social media star. At the time of writing, her Instagram page has 181,000 followers, which is comfortably the largest of any curling athlete.

Suzuki Yumi

Suzuki started curling in elementary school in Tokoro when she was seven years old. And as you may have figured at this point, she comes from the same town as her team-mates, Kitami, Hokkaido, a curling hotbed.

Japan competed with almost the exact same roster as the team that won bronze four years ago. They guaranteed they would improve on that finish by upsetting world number two Switzerland in the semifinals.

Britain wins the event for the second time overall and first since 2002. It is their only gold in Beijing.

The bronze medal went to Pyeongchang champions Sweden.

Source: Japan Curling Team

Picture: Japan Curling Team