Snowboarder Kokubo ends up eighth at half-pipe
After failing to land the double cork, Kokubo was ony rewarded with a bloody lip for his 8th place finish.21 year-old Japanese snowboarder Kazuhiro Kokubo inadvertently created the biggest story of the Vancouver Winter Olympics back home by minorly modifying his official Olympic outfit to be more "snowboarder." As punishment, Kokubo did not get to appear in the opening ceremony.
The question remained, however, would Kokubo's rebellious nature boost the young Hokkaido native to a Olympic gold in the half-pipe competition, thus silencing his overly rule-bound critics?
Unfortunately, Kokubo didn't get to live out everyone's "see, grumpy adults, I told you so" fantasy as he finished in eighth place after failing to "land the double cork." American Shaun White -- who let his hair do the talking under the United States' Ralph Lauren-designed uniforms -- took home gold.
Interestingly, the Japanese online world showed a diversity of opinions about Kazuhiro Kokubo. The angry otaku trolls of 2ch were openly hostile, while Twitter users were generally supportive. Sadly, many will also come to the conclusion that tucking your shirt in has a direct relation to athletic prowess in snowboarding. Whatever the case, do not expect a warm and fuzzy welcome-back parade.
