Talent identification and development (TID) becomes an indispensable part of athlete development pathways in high-performance sport. Japanese talented athletes identified by local TID (LTID: the projects led by each prefecture) have been educated through sports science literacy programs to change behavior for enhancing sport performance. It remains unclear whether the effects of behavior change up to 6 months after the literacy programs intervention and the importance of the literacy programs for talented athletes. The purpose of this study was to clarify these issues using a questionnaire survey based on the self-evaluation of 43 talented athletes in the LTID project (aged 14 to 15 years). The results showed that more than 80% of the talented athletes progressed from the “precontemplation” or “contemplation” phase to the “action” phase in the behavior change stages after the literacy program intervention. Six months after the intervention, more than 70% of the talented athletes reached the “maintenance” phase in the behavior change stages. In addition, over 90% of the talented athletes indicated that the literacy programs were important or somewhat important. These results suggested that the intervention of sports science literacy programs had a positive effect on behavior change for talented athletes in LTID and the importance of the literacy programs. However, further studies are needed with more comprehensive perspectives that may include other objective measures of behavior change and its association with long-term improvement in sport performance.

Ski deflection plays a vital role in determining the quality of the carving turn and overall skiing performance. Therefore, it is essential to quantify the ski deflection accurately. Prior research has utilized strain gauges to investigate ski deflection, but this method posed challenges, including difficulties in measuring the multiple points of the ski. To address these limitations, we focused on utilizing Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG), a technology that can effectively resolve these issues, and developed new techniques to investigate ski deflection. Furthermore, we employed this method to quantify the ski deflection during the carving turn for sit-skier, identifying their areas of improvement to enhance the skiing performance. This paper presents the verification tests of ski deflection using FBG, as well as the technical issues encountered by sit-skiers. Firstly, we conducted a laboratory test to confirm if the FBG strain sensor could detect ski deflection when weights were suspended. Secondly, we conducted an on-snow test to determine if the FBG strain sensor could detect the ski deflection during a straight downhill ski run, with forward and backward loads. The results of these verification tests validated FBG's ability to measure ski deflection. Subsequently, we compared the ski deflection of a sit-skier with that of a standing skier during a carving turn. We found that the sit-skier had difficulty deflecting the forebody of the ski, which limited the range of carving turn techniques sit-skier could perform compared with the standing skier. For instance, fine adjustments in turn radius during carving turns are restricted. In summary, our study demonstrates the potential of FBG to measure ski deflection at multiple points accurately, providing detailed insights for skiers, unlike the strain gauge. Thus, we anticipate that FBG will become a common technique for measuring ski deflection in the future.

Supplements are used to provide energy and nutrients that one's diet cannot adequately provide. There are also supplements for fatigue recovery and injury prevention. The Japan Institute of Sports Sciences (JISS) provides information on appropriate supplement use on its website. This information should be updated because the trend of using supplements among athletes varies depending on the market and the opinions of coaches, sporting event categories, age, and sex. Therefore, we aimed via this study to investigate supplement use among elite Japanese athletes.

We investigated supplement use among 245 elite Japanese athletes (128 males, 117 females) who joined the PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games. Supplement use was investigated via a selfreported medical health questionnaire. In total, 229 (93.5%) athletes used more than one supplement within one year preceding the survey. The average number of supplements used was 3.6 ± 2.0 per athlete. Amino acids were the most popular supplements, and recovery from fatigue was the most cited reason for supplement use. Among the athletes, 2.2% did not know the type of supplements they were using, 2.6% used supplements for no reason, and 2.0% were unaware of anti-doping regulations. This indicates that some athletes do not consider the intended use of supplement and effects prior to use. Coaches were the most common source of information on supplement use. Consultation with experts, such as doctors, registered dietitians, and pharmacists, is required for proper supplement use. Coaches and experts may need to work together to ensure that athletes use supplements appropriately.