Are you interested in the
following Olympic events?
1.Ski Jumping66.0%
2.Figure Skating51.2%
3.Speedskating45.0%
4.Alpine Skiing35.2%
5.Snowboarding31.3%
6.Freestyle Skiing25.2%
7.Nordic Combination22.1%
8.Bobsled18.8%
9.Ice Hockey14.8%
10.Cross Country11.0%
11.Short Track10.9%
12.Skeleton9.4%
13.Luge7.6%
14.Curling6.9%
15.Biathlon3.6%
In February 2002, shortly before the start of the Olympic Winter Games, we sent questionnaires to 7706 people who were registered in the category of Japan of our pen pal service and who indicated that they are willing to participate in surveys. We received 849 valid responses from Japanese people who live in Japan, and a majority of the survey participants were younger than 30 years old.

In this survey we tried to figure out the popularity of the various events of the Olympic Winter Games 2002 which are held in Salt Lake City, USA from February 8 to 24.

According to our survey results, ski jumping (66%), figure skating (51%) and speedskating (45%) enjoy the greatest popularity in Japan, while luge (8%), curling (7%) and biathlon (4%) interest the least people.

Many olympic events such as ski jumping and speedskating are about equally popular among men and women. Figure skating and snowboarding, however, are two events clearly more popular among women than men, while the opposite is true for alpine skiing.

Most popular events among men
  1. Ski Jumping (68%)
  2. Speedskating (47%)
  3. Alpine Skiing (45%)
  4. Figure Skating (33%)
  5. Snowboarding (28%)
  6. Freestyle Skiing (27%)
  7. Nordic Combination (27%)
  8. Bobsled (24%)
  9. Ice Hockey (20%)
  10. Cross Country (14%)
  11. Short Track (12%)
  12. Skeleton (12%)
  13. Luge (11%)
  14. Curling (9%)
  15. Biathlon (6%)
Most popular events among women
  1. Figure Skating (69%)
  2. Ski Jumping (64%)
  3. Speedskating (43%)
  4. Snowboarding (38%)
  5. Alpine Skiing (25%)
  6. Freestyle Skiing (24%)
  7. Nordic Combination (20%)
  8. Bobsled (17%)
  9. Ice Hockey (16%)
  10. Short Track (10%)
  11. Cross Country (10%)
  12. Skeleton (7%)
  13. Curling (5%)
  14. Luge (4%)
  15. Biathlon (2%)