Japan competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. 184 competitors, 148 men and 36 women, took part in 113 events in 21 sports.
Medalists
| width=78% align=left valign=top | Medal Name Sport Event Date Sawao KatoAkinori NakayamaEizo KenmotsuMitsuo TsukaharaShigeru KasamatsuTeruichi Okamura Gymnastics Men's team all-around August 29 Sawao Kato Gymnastics Men's individual all-around August 30 Nobutaka Taguchi Swimming Men's 100 m breaststroke August 30 Kiyomi Kato Wrestling Men's freestyle flyweight August 31 Hideaki Yanagida Wrestling Men's freestyle bantamweight August 31 Mayumi Aoki Swimming Women's 100 m butterfly September 1 Mitsuo Tsukahara Gymnastics Men's horizontal bar September 1 Sawao Kato Gymnastics Men's parallel bars September 1 Akinori Nakayama Gymnastics Men's rings September 1 Shinobu Sekine Judo Men's middleweight September 2 Toyokazu Nomura Judo Men's half middleweight September 3 Takao Kawaguchi Judo Men's lightweight September 4 Yoshihide FukaoKenji KimuraMasayuki MinamiJungo MoritaYūzo NakamuraKatsutoshi NekodaTetsuo NishimotoYasuhiro NoguchiSeiji OkoTetsuo SatōKenji ShimaokaTadayoshi Yokota Volleyball Men's tournament September 9 Eizo Kenmotsu Gymnastics Men's individual all-around August 30 Kikuo Wada Wrestling Men's freestyle lightweight August 31 Akinori Nakayama Gymnastics Men's floor September 1 Sawao Kato Gymnastics Men's horizontal bar September 1 Shigeru Kasamatsu Gymnastics Men's parallel bars September 1 Sawao Kato Gymnastics Men's pommel horse September 1 Katsumi MatsumuraTakako IidaMariko OkamotoTakako ShiraiMakiko FurukawaKeiko HamaToyoko IwaharaSumie OinumaSeiko ShimakageMichiko ShiokawaNoriko YamashitaYaeko Yamazaki Volleyball Women's tournament September 7 Koichiro Hirayama Wrestling Men's Greco-Roman flyweight September 10 Akinori Nakayama Gymnastics Men's individual all-around August 30 Motoki Nishimura Judo Men's heavyweight August 31 Shigeru Kasamatsu Gymnastics Men's floor September 1 Shigeru Kasamatsu Gymnastics Men's horizontal bar September 1 Eizo Kenmotsu Gymnastics Men's parallel bars September 1 Eizo Kenmotsu Gymnastics Men's pommel horse September 1 Mitsuo Tsukahara Gymnastics Men's rings September 1 Nobutaka Taguchi Swimming Men's 200 m breaststroke September 2
| width=22% align=left valign=top | Medals by sportSport TotalGymnastics 5 5 616Judo 3 0 14Wrestling 2 2 04Swimming 2 0 13Volleyball 1 1 02 Total 13 8 8 29
Archery
In the first modern archery competition at the Olympics, Japan entered three men and one woman. Their highest placing competitor was Yoshiko Akayama, at 17th place in the women's competition.
Men's Individual Competition: Hiroshi Kajikawa — 2381 points (→ 19th place) Masashi Hibino — 2344 points (→ 29th place) Shinji Nakamoto — 2287 points (→ 38th place)
Women's Individual Competition: Yoshiko Akayama — 2301 points (→ 17th place)
Athletics
Men's 5000 metres Keisuke Sawaki Heat — 13:44.8 (→ did not advance)
Takaharu Koyama Heat — 14:12.6 (→ did not advance)
Men's High Jump Hidehiko Tomizawa Qualifying Round — 2.15m Final — 2.05m (→ 19th place)
Kuniyoshi Sugioka Qualification Round — 2.06m (→ did not advance)
Basketball
Boxing
Men's Light Flyweight (– 48 kg) Yoshimitsu Aragaki First Round — Lost to Asen Nikolov (BUL), 0:5
Canoeing
Cycling
Three cyclists represented Japan in 1972.
Sprint Yoshikazu Cho Yaichi Numata
1000m time trial Takafumi Matsuda Final — 1:10.00 (→ 20th place)
Tandem Yaichi Numata and Yoshikazu Cho → 12th place
Diving
Men's 3m Springboard Junji Yuasa — 316.95 points (→ 24th place)
Men's 10m Platform Junji Yuasa — 276.00 points (→ 19th place)
Women's 3m Springboard Taeko Kubo — 236.25 points (→ 24th place)
Women's 10m Platform Keiko Otsubo — 168.24 points (→ 23rd place)
Equestrian
Fencing
Five fencers, all men, represented Japan in 1972.
Men's foil Hiroshi Nakajima Ichiro Serizawa Kiyoshi Uehara
Men's team foil Shiro Maruyama, Masaya Fukuda, Hiroshi Nakajima, Kiyoshi Uehara, Ichiro Serizawa
Gymnastics
Handball
Men's Team Competition Preliminary Round Lost to Yugoslavia (14-20) Lost to Hungary (12-20) Defeated United States (20-16) Classification Matches 9th/12th place: Lost to Norway (17-19) 11th/12th place: Defeated Iceland (19-18) → 11th place
Judo
Modern pentathlon
Three male pentathletes represented Japan in 1972.
Men's Individual Competition: Masaru Sakano — 4627 points (→ 31st place) Yuso Makihira — 4583 points (→ 33rd place) Akira Kubo — 4371 points (→ 49th place)
Men's Team Competition: Sakano, Makihara, and Kubo — 13569 points (13th place)
Rowing
Men's Single Sculls Hideo Okamoto Heat — 8:20.82 Repechage — 8:27.36 (→ did not advance)
Sailing
Men's Finn: Kazuoki Matsuyama — 176.0 (→ 27th place)
Men's Flying Dutchman: Akira Yamamura and Takashi Yamamura — 128.0 (→ 19th place)
Shooting
Six male shooters represented Japan in 1972. Open AthleteEventFinalPointsRankMinoru Ito50 m rifle, three positions11244150 m rifle, prone58959Takeo Kamachi25 m rapid fire pistol58033 Kanji Kubo58230Takeshi Sugita50 m rifle, prone58382Shigetoshi Tashiro50 m pistol54622Yoshihisa Yoshikawa54525
Swimming
Volleyball
Men's Team Competition Preliminary Round (Group B) Defeated Romania (3-1) Defeated Cuba (3-0) Defeated East Germany (3-0) Defeated Brazil (3-0) Defeated West Germany (3-0) Semifinals Defeated Bulgaria (3-2) Final Defeated East Germany (3-1) → Gold Medal
Team Roster Kenji Kimura Yoshinide Fukao Junko Morita Seiji Ohko Tadayoshi Yokota Katsutoshi Nekoda Yasuhiro Noguchi Kenji Shimaoka Yūzo Nakamura Tetsuo Nishimoto Massao Minami Tetsuo Satō
Water polo
Men's Team Competition Preliminary Round (Group C) Lost to Spain (4-6) Lost to Soviet Union (1-11) Lost to Bulgaria (4-7) Lost to Italy (5-12) → Did not advance
Team Roster Yukiharu Oshita Hirokatsu Kuwayama Toshio Takahashi Shuzo Yajima Hiroshi Hashimoto Koji Nakano Naoto Minegishi Tatsuo Jihira Takashi Kimura Yoshihiro Yasumi Toru Arase
Weightlifting
Wrestling
Badminton (demonstration sports) Men's Doubles: Ippei Kojima and Suresh Goel of India 1st round - Lost to Ng. Boon Bee and Punch Gunalan of Malaysia (8 - 15, 1 - 15)
Women's Singles: Noriko Nakayama → Gold Medal 1st round - defeated Ulla Strand of Denmark (11 - 5, 11 - 9) Semi–Final - defeated Gillian Gilks of Great Britain (11 - 3, 8 - 11, 11 - 9) Final - defeated Utami Dewi of Indonesia (11 - 5, 11 - 3) Hiroe Yuki → bronze medal 1st round - defeated Joke van Beusekom of Netherlands (11 - 3, 11 - 2) Semi-Final - lost to Utami Dewi of Indonesia (5 - 11, 9 - 11)
Mixed Doubles: Kojima and Nakayama 1st round - lost to Talbot and Gilks of Great Britain (9 - 15, 4 - 15)
References