Japan's Noriaki Kasai targets gold in Sochi

Japanese ski jumper Noriaki Kasai has said that he is determined to win gold at the 2014 Winter Olympics.

The 41-year-old is one of four competitors from Japan in the men's normal hill ski jump category.

"It's my seventh Olympics and I'm in really top condition, so I am shooting for the gold medal," the Japan Times quotes him as saying.

"As captain, I want to help motivate the other athletes to win a lot of medals with a strong performance."

Taku Takeuchi, Yuta Watase and Reruhi Shimizu are the other three Japanese competitors in the event.