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Sara Takanashi: 'I wish I was taller'

Japan skier Sara Takanashi bemoans her stature ahead of her Olympic ski jumping event later this evening.

Japan skier Sara Takanashi has bemoaned her stature ahead of her Olympic ski jumping event later this evening.

The 17-year-old, who is 4'11" tall, has admitted that she has had to train especially hard to be able to compete in the event in Sochi.

"I want to be able to jump more efficiently," Takanashi told BBC Sport.

"This is the body I was born with and I wouldn't wish to change that. But I am training hard to suit the needs of the event - trying to strengthen my frame and get more power in my legs.

"I do wish I were a little taller. But you cannot change the way you were born, so what I am trying hard to do is make the very most out of what potential I have."

The Hokkaido-born teenager has won 10 of her 13 World Cup competitions this winter.

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Sara Takanashi of Japan jumps during the Ladies' Normal Hill Individual Ski Jumping training on day 1 of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at the RusSki Gorki Ski Jumping Center on February 8, 2014
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