Japan was the host nation of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020 but postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the nation's official debut in 1912, Japanese athletes have appeared at every Summer Olympic Games in the modern era, except for the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, to which they were not invited due to the nation's role in World War II, and the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, as part of the United States-led boycott. The flag-bearers for Japan were basketball player Rui Hachimura and wrestler Yui Susaki in the opening ceremony and karateka Ryo Kiyuna in the closing ceremony.
Japan finished the Games with 58 total medals, 27 being gold, a significant improvement upon the country's previous record performances from the 1964 Olympics (also held in Tokyo) and 2004 Olympics. This placed them third overall by gold-first ranking for the third time (after 1964 and 1968), behind the United States and China. In terms of total medals, they also fell behind the Russian Olympic Committee and the United Kingdom. It was the most successful Summer Olympics in Japan's history.
Medalists
The following Japanese competitors won medals at the Games. In the by discipline sections below, medalists' names are bolded.
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Medal Name Sport Event Date Gold Naohisa Takato Judo Men's 60 kg Gold Yui Ohashi Swimming Women's 400 metre individual medley Gold Yuto Horigome Skateboarding Men's street Gold Uta Abe Judo Women's 52 kg Gold Hifumi Abe Judo Men's 66 kg Gold Momiji Nishiya Skateboarding Women's street Gold Shohei Ono Judo Men's 73 kg Gold Jun MizutaniMima Ito Table tennis Mixed doubles Gold Takanori Nagase Judo Men's 81 kg GoldYamato FujitaYukiko UenoNozomi GotoYukiyo MineNayu KiyoharaHaruka AgatsumaYuka IchiguchiYu YamamotoHitomi KawabataMana AtsumiMinori NaitoSaki YamazakiNodoka HaradaSayaka MoriEri YamadaSoftballWomen's tournament Gold Yui Ohashi Swimming Women's 200 metre individual medley Gold Chizuru Arai Judo Women's 70 kg Gold Daiki Hashimoto Gymnastics Men's artistic individual all-around Gold Shori Hamada Judo Women's 78 kg Gold Aaron Wolf Judo Men's 100 kg Gold Akira Sone Judo Women's +78 kg Gold Koki KanoKazuyasu MinobeSatoru UyamaMasaru Yamada Fencing Men's team épée Gold Sena Irie Boxing Women's featherweight Gold Daiki Hashimoto Gymnastics Men's horizontal bar Gold Sakura Yosozumi Skateboarding Women's park Gold Yukako Kawai Wrestling Women's freestyle 62 kg Gold Risako Kawai Wrestling Women's freestyle 57 kg Gold Ryo Kiyuna Karate Men's kata Gold Mayu Mukaida Wrestling Women's freestyle 53 kg Gold Takuto Otoguro Wrestling Men's freestyle 65 kg Gold Yui Susaki Wrestling Women's freestyle 50 kg Gold Kōyō AoyagiSuguru IwazakiMasato MorishitaHiromi ItohYoshinobu YamamotoMasahiro TanakaYasuaki YamasakiRyoji KuribayashiYūdai ŌnoKodai SengaKaima TairaRyutaro UmenoTakuya KaiTetsuto YamadaSōsuke GendaHideto AsamuraRyosuke KikuchiHayato SakamotoMunetaka MurakamiKensuke KondoYuki YanagitaRyoya KuriharaMasataka YoshidaSeiya SuzukiAtsunori InabaMakoto KanekoYoshinori TateyamaYoshinori MurataHirokazu IbataMasaji Shimizu Baseball Men's tournament Silver Funa Tonaki Judo Women's 48 kg Silver Daiki HashimotoKazuma KayaTakeru KitazonoWataru Tanigawa Gymnastics Men's artistic team all-around Silver Kanoa Igarashi Surfing Men's shortboard Silver Tomoru Honda Swimming Men's 200 metre butterfly Silver Hifumi AbeUta AbeChizuru AraiShori HamadaHisayoshi Harasawa Shoichiro MukaiTakanori NagaseShohei OnoAkira SoneMiku TashiroAaron WolfTsukasa Yoshida Judo Mixed team Silver Kenichiro Fumita Wrestling Men's Greco-Roman 60 kg Silver Kokona Hiraki Skateboarding Women's park Silver Koki Ikeda Athletics Men's 20 kilometres walk Silver Kiyou Shimizu Karate Women's kata Silver Miu HiranoKasumi IshikawaMima Ito Table tennis Women's team Silver Miho Nonaka Sport climbing Women's combined Silver Mone Inami Golf Women's individual Silver Moeko NagaokaMaki TakadaNaho MiyoshiRui MachidaNako MotohashiNanaka TodoSaki HayashiEvelyn MawuliSaori MiyazakiYuki MiyazawaHimawari AkahoMonica Okoye Basketball Women's tournament Silver Yumi Kajihara Cycling Women's omnium Bronze Funa Nakayama Skateboarding Women's street Bronze Takaharu FurukawaHiroki MutoYuki Kawata Archery Men's team Bronze Tsukasa Yoshida Judo Women's 57 kg Bronze Amuro Tsuzuki Surfing Women's shortboard Bronze Mikiko Andoh Weightlifting Women's 59 kg Bronze Mima Ito Table tennis Women's singles Bronze Yuta WatanabeArisa Higashino Badminton Mixed doubles Bronze Takaharu Furukawa Archery Men's individual Bronze Kazuma Kaya Gymnastics Men's pommel horse Bronze Mai Murakami Gymnastics Women's floor Bronze Shohei Yabiku Wrestling Men's Greco-Roman 77 kg Bronze Tsukimi Namiki Boxing Women's flyweight Bronze Ryomei Tanaka Boxing Men's flyweight Bronze Toshikazu Yamanishi Athletics Men's 20 kilometres walk Bronze Jun MizutaniKoki NiwaTomokazu HarimotoTable tennis Men's team Bronze Akiyo Noguchi Sport climbing Women's combined Bronze Ryutaro Araga Karate Men's +75 kg | style="text-align:left; width:22%; vertical-align:top;"|
Medals by sportSport TotalJudo92112Wrestling5117Skateboarding3115Gymnastics2125Swimming2103Table tennis1124Karate1113Boxing1023Baseball1001Fencing1001Softball1001Athletics0112Sport climbing0112Surfing0112Basketball0101Cycling0101Golf0101Archery0022Badminton0011Weightlifting0011 Total 27 14 17 58
Medals by dayDay TotalJuly 24 1 1 0 2July 25 4 0 0 4July 26 3 1 3 7July 27 2 1 2 5July 28 3 1 0 4July 29 2 0 1 3July 30 2 0 1 3July 31 0 1 1 2August 1 0 0 1 1August 2 0 1 1 2August 3 2 0 1 3August 4 2 1 1 4August 5 1 3 2 6August 6 2 1 2 5August 7 3 1 1 5August 8 0 2 0 2Total 27 14 17 58
Medals by genderGender TotalFemale148830Male125825Mixed1113Total27141758
Competitors The following is the list of number of competitors in the Games. Note that reserves in field hockey, football, and handball are not counted: SportMenWomenTotalArchery 3 3 6Artistic swimming 9 9Athletics 41 9 50Badminton 6 7 13Baseball 24 24Basketball 12 16 28Boxing 4 2 6Canoeing 7 5 12Cycling 6 7 13Diving 4 4 8Equestrian 9 0 9Fencing 12 9 21Field hockey 16 16 32Football 18 18 36Golf 2 2 4Gymnastics 5 12 17Handball 14 14 28Judo 7 7 14Karate 4 4 8Modern pentathlon 1 2 3Rugby sevens 12 12 24Sailing 8 7 15Shooting 6 6 12Skateboarding 4 6 10Softball 15 15Sport climbing 2 2 4Surfing 2 2 4Swimming 18 17 35Table tennis 3 3 6Taekwondo 2 2 4Tennis 4 5 9Triathlon 2 2 4Volleyball 14 14 28Water polo 13 13 26Weightlifting 4 3 7Wrestling 6 6 12 Total 295 261 556
Archery
Japan fielded six archers (three men and three women) at the Games, as the host nation is automatically entitled to use the men's and women's team quota places.
The host nation's archery team was officially announced on March 21, 2021, with London 2012 silver medalist Takaharu Furukawa slated to shoot at his fifth consecutive Olympics.
Men AthleteEventRanking roundRound of 64Round of 32Round of 16QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal / ScoreSeedOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreRankTakaharu FurukawaIndividual64946W 7–3W 6–5W 3–1W 4–0L 1–4W 4–1Yuki Kawata66122L 2–6Did not advanceHiroki Muto6785L 3–7Did not advanceTakaharu FurukawaYuki KawataHiroki MutoTeam19884colspan=2 W 5–1L 4–5W 5–4
Women AthleteEventRanking roundRound of 64Round of 32Round of 16QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal / ScoreSeedOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreRankRen HayakawaIndividual65316W 6–5 W 6–2 L 4–6Did not advanceMiki Nakamura63931W 6–2W 6–2 L 1–7Did not advanceAzusa Yamauchi6657W 6–2L 0–6Did not advanceRen HayakawaMiki NakamuraAzusa YamauchiTeam19574colspan=2 L 3–5Did not advance
Mixed AthleteEventRanking roundRound of 16QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal / ScoreSeedOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreRankHiroki MutoAzusa YamauchiTeam13433 QL 3–5Did not advance
Artistic swimming
Japan as the host nation, entered a squad of eight artistic swimmers to compete in the women's duet and team event.
AthleteEventTechnical routineFree routine (preliminary)Free routine (final)PointsRankPointsTotal (technical + free)RankPointsTotal (technical + free)RankYukiko InuiMegumu YoshidaDuet93.3499493.9333187.28324 Q94.4667187.81664Juka FukumuraYukiko InuiMoeka KijimaOkina KyogokuMayu TsukamotoMashiro YasunagaAkane YanagisawaMegumu YoshidaTeam93.37734colspan=3 94.9333188.31064
Athletics (track and field)
Japanese athletes further achieved the entry standards, either by qualifying time or by world ranking, in the following track and field events (up to a maximum of 3 athletes in each event): The team will be selected based on the results of the 2020 Japan Championships and once an athlete wins a medal in race walking and marathon, or attains the top eight position in track and field at the 2019 IAAF World Championships in Doha, Qatar.
Four marathon runners (two per gender) were the first set of Japanese track and field athletes being selected for the Games, with a top-two finish of their respective races at the Grand Championship in Tokyo on September 15, 2019. By winning the gold medals at the World Championships, race walkers Toshikazu Yamanishi and London 2012 Olympian Yusuke Suzuki were officially added to the track and field roster. Suguru Osako and Mao Ichiyama completed the nation's marathon team lineup at the Nagoya and Lake Biwa Marathon on March 8, 2020.
Track & road events Men AthleteEventHeatQuarterfinalSemifinal FinalResultRankResultRankResultRankResultRankYuki Koike 100 m colspan=2 10.22 4Did not advanceShuhei Tada colspan=2 10.22 6Did not advanceRyota Yamagata colspan=2 10.15 4Did not advanceAbdul Hakim Sani Brown 200 m 21.41 6 colspan=2 rowspan=3 Did not advance Shota Iizuka 21.02 6Did not advance Jun Yamashita 20.78 5Did not advanceJulian Walsh400 m 46.57 6colspan=2 Did not advanceYuta Bando5000 m 14:05.80 17colspan=4 rowspan=2 Did not advanceHiroki Matsueda 14:15.54 18Did not advanceAkira Aizawa10000 mcolspan=6 rowspan=2 28:18.3717Tatsuhiko Ito 29:01.31 22Shunsuke Izumiya 110 m hurdles 13.28 2 Qcolspan=2 rowspan=3 13.35 3Did not advanceTaio Kanai 13.41 3 Q 26.11 8Did not advanceShunya Takayama 13.98 6Did not advanceTakatoshi Abe400 m hurdles 49.98 6colspan=2 rowspan=3 Did not advanceKazuki Kurokawa 50.30 6Did not advanceHiromu Yamauchi 49.21 3 Q 49.35 6Did not advance Ryoma Aoki3000 m steeplechase 8:24.82 9 colspan=4 rowspan=3 Did not advanceRyuji Miura 8:09.92 2 Q8:16.907Kosei Yamaguchi 8:31.27 12Did not advanceBruno Dede*Yoshihide KiryuYuki KoikeShuhei TadaRyota Yamagata4 × 100 m relay 38.16 3 Qcolspan=4 Rikuya ItōKaito KawabataKentarō SatōAoto SuzukiJulian Walsh*4 × 400 m relay3:00.765colspan=4 Did not advance Yuma HattoriMarathoncolspan=6 rowspan=3 2:30:0873Shogo Nakamura2:22:23 62Suguru Osako2:10:41 6Koki Ikeda20 km walkcolspan=6 rowspan=3 1:12:14Eiki Takahashi 1:27:2932Toshikazu Yamanishi1:12:28Hayato Katsuki50 km walkcolspan=6 rowspan=3 4:06:3230Masatora Kawano 3:51:566Satoshi Maruo 4:06:4432
Women