Japan at the Olympics

For Olympics in Japan, see Japanese Olympics.

Japan at the Olympics
IOC code	JPN
NOC	Japanese Olympic Committee
Website	www.joc.or.jp (in English and Japanese)
Medals Ranked 12th	Gold 183 Silver 172 Bronze 200 Total 555
Summer appearances
1912 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024
Winter appearances
1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022

Japan first participated at the Olympic Games in 1912, and has competed at almost every Games since then. The nation was not invited to the 1948 Games after World War II, and was part of the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.

Japan won its first medals in 1920, and its first gold medals in 1928. Japanese athletes have won 497 medals at the Summer Olympic Games (except art competitions), with the most gold medals won in judo, as of the end of 2020 Summer Olympics. Japan has also won 58 medals at the Winter Olympic Games. Its most successful Olympics are the 1964 and 2020 Games, both hosted in Tokyo.

The Japanese Olympic Committee was created in 1911 and recognized in 1912.

Hosted Games

Japan have hosted the Games on four occasions, including the 2020 Summer Olympics (which was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic):

Games	Dates	Host city
1964 Summer Olympics	10–24 October 1964	Tokyo
1972 Winter Olympics	3–13 February 1972	Sapporo, Hokkaidō
1998 Winter Olympics	7–22 February 1998	Nagano, Nagano
2020 Summer Olympics	23 July – 8 August 2021	Tokyo

Cancelled games

Games	Host city	Relocation prior to cancellation
1940 Summer Olympics	Tokyo	Helsinki, Finland
1940 Winter Olympics	Sapporo	Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany

Unsuccessful bids

Games	City	Winner of bid
1960 Summer Olympics	Tokyo	Rome, Italy
1988 Summer Olympics	Nagoya, Aichi	Seoul, South Korea
2008 Summer Olympics	Osaka, Osaka	Beijing, China
1968 Winter Olympics	Sapporo, Hokkaidō	Grenoble, France
1984 Winter Olympics	Sapporo, Hokkaidō	Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
2016 Summer Olympics	Tokyo	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Medal tables

See also: All-time Olympic Games medal table

• Red border colour indicates tournament was held on home soil.
• Red coloured rank box indicates the best performance.

Medals by Summer Games

Games	Athletes	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total	Rank
1912 Stockholm	2	0	0	0	0	–
1920 Antwerp	15	0	2	0	2	17
1924 Paris	19	0	0	1	1	23
1928 Amsterdam	43	2	2	1	5	15
1932 Los Angeles	131	7	7	4	18	5
1936 Berlin	156	6	4	8	18	8
1948 London	Did not participate
1952 Helsinki	69	1	6	2	9	17
1956 Melbourne	110	4	10	5	19	10
1960 Rome	162	4	7	7	18	8
1964 Tokyo	328	16	5	8	29	3
1968 Mexico City	171	11	7	7	25	3
1972 Munich	184	13	8	8	29	5
1976 Montreal	213	9	6	10	25	5
1980 Moscow	Did not participate
1984 Los Angeles	226	10	8	14	32	7
1988 Seoul	255	4	3	7	14	14
1992 Barcelona	256	3	8	11	22	17
1996 Atlanta	306	3	6	5	14	23
2000 Sydney	266	5	8	5	18	15
2004 Athens	306	16	9	12	37	5
2008 Beijing	332	9	8	8	25	8
2012 London	295	7	14	17	38	11
2016 Rio de Janeiro	338	12	8	21	41	6
2020 Tokyo	552	27	14	17	58	3
2024 Paris	Future Event
2028 Los Angeles
2032 Brisbane
Total		169	150	178	497	9

Medals by Winter Games

Games	Athletes	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total	Rank
1928 St. Moritz	6	0	0	0	0	–
1932 Lake Placid	16	0	0	0	0	–
1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen	31	0	0	0	0	–
1948 St. Moritz	Did not participate
1952 Oslo	13	0	0	0	0	–
1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo	10	0	1	0	1	11
1960 Squaw Valley	41	0	0	0	0	–
1964 Innsbruck	47	0	0	0	0	–
1968 Grenoble	61	0	0	0	0	–
1972 Sapporo	85	1	1	1	3	11
1976 Innsbruck	58	0	0	0	0	–
1980 Lake Placid	50	0	1	0	1	15
1984 Sarajevo	39	0	1	0	1	14
1988 Calgary	48	0	0	1	1	16
1992 Albertville	60	1	2	4	7	11
1994 Lillehammer	59	1	2	2	5	11
1998 Nagano	156	5	1	4	10	7
2002 Salt Lake City	103	0	1	1	2	21
2006 Turin	110	1	0	0	1	18
2010 Vancouver	94	0	3	2	5	20
2014 Sochi	113	1	4	3	8	17
2018 Pyeongchang	124	4	5	4	13	11
2022 Beijing	125	0	0	0	0	–
2026 Milano Cortina	Future Event
Total		14	22	22	58	16

Medals by summer sport

  Leading in that sport

Sport	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Judo	48	21	27	96
Wrestling	37	22	17	76
Gymnastics	33	34	36	103
Swimming	24	27	32	83
Athletics	7	10	10	27
Volleyball	3	3	3	9
Skateboarding	3	1	1	5
Boxing	3	0	5	8
Weightlifting	2	3	10	15
Softball	2	1	1	4
Table tennis	1	3	4	8
Shooting	1	2	3	6
Fencing	1	2	0	3
Badminton	1	1	2	4
Baseball	1	1	2	4
Karate	1	1	1	3
Equestrian	1	0	0	1
Artistic swimming	0	4	10	14
Archery	0	3	4	7
Cycling	0	2	3	5
Tennis	0	2	1	3
Football	0	1	1	2
Sailing	0	1	1	2
Sport climbing	0	1	1	2
Surfing	0	1	1	2
Basketball	0	1	0	1
Field hockey	0	1	0	1
Golf	0	1	0	1
Canoeing	0	0	1	1
Taekwondo	0	0	1	1
Totals (30 entries)	169	150	178	497

Medals by winter sport

  Leading in that sport

Sport	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Speed skating	4	7	10	21
Ski jumping	3	5	4	12
Figure skating	3	3	1	7
Nordic combined	2	3	0	5
Freestyle skiing	1	0	3	4
Short track speed skating	1	0	2	3
Snowboarding	0	3	1	4
Alpine skiing	0	1	0	1
Curling	0	0	1	1
Totals (9 entries)	14	22	22	58

Youth Games medal tables

Main article: All-time Youth Olympic Games medal table

Medals by Summer Youth Games

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
2010 Singapore	8	5	3	16
2014 Nanjing	7	9	5	21
2018 Buenos Aires	15	12	12	39
Totals (3 entries)	30	26	20	76

Medals by Winter Youth Games

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
2012 Innsbruck	2	5	9	16
2016 Lillehammer	2	4	0	6
2020 Lausanne	9	7	1	17
Totals (3 entries)	13	16	10	39

Medals by summer sport

  Leading in that sport

Sport	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Gymnastics	7	3	3	13
Wrestling	6	0	2	8
Athletics	3	7	3	13
Swimming	3	2	5	10
Judo	3	0	1	4
Table tennis	2	5	0	7
Karate	1	3	0	4
Tennis	1	1	1	3
Fencing	1	1	0	2
Sport climbing	1	1	0	2
Breaking	1	0	1	2
Triathlon	1	0	0	1
Badminton	0	1	1	2
Boxing	0	1	1	2
Futsal	0	1	0	1
Cycling	0	0	1	1
Rugby	0	0	1	1
Totals (17 entries)	30	26	20	76

Medals by winter sport

  Leading in that sport

Sport	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Snowboarding	5	3	1	9
Speed skating	3	6	5	14
Figure skating	2	1	0	3
Ice hockey	2	0	1	3
Ski jumping	1	1	1	3
Nordic combined	0	1	1	2
Short track speed skating	0	1	1	2
Alpine skiing	0	1	0	1
Cross-country skiing	0	1	0	1
Curling	0	1	0	1
Totals (10 entries)	13	16	10	39

Hosted Olympics logos and mottos

1964 Summer Olympics

The 1964 Summer Olympics marks Japan host its first Olympic Games. It was held in the capital Tokyo. It was also the first time it was held in Asia.

1972 Winter Olympics

The 1972 Winter Olympics marks the second time Olympics held in Japan. It was the first time held outside Tokyo because it was held at Sapporo.

Because of its snowy geographic, Japan would hosts its first Winter Olympics. It was also the first winter olympics held in Asia.

1998 Winter Olympics

The 1998 Winter Olympics was the third time Japan hosts Olympics for third time and Winter in second. It was also held outside Tokyo as it was held at Nagano. The motto of the games is Coexistence with Nature (自然との共存)

2020 Summer Olympics

The 2020 Summer Olympics marks the fourth time Olympics held in Japan. It was the first time it was held one year late (2021 instead of 2020) following the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. It marks the second time it was held in Tokyo. Its motto was United by Emotion (感動で、私たちはひとつになる). During that time, only the English version was used.

This motto appeals to us that "Sports enable us to overcome different environments and become one world through emotions such as joy and excitement that the athletes' competitive performances bring together in our hearts."

Several controversies arise, including the Olympic logo plagiarism. The logo was created by Kenjirō Sano. His logo was revealed in 2015. Belgian designer, Olivier Debie claims that Sano's logo were plagiarizes his art for Théâtre de Liège.

Following that, the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (TOCOG) held an emergency meeting to solve the buttheads between Sano and Debie. Finally, Governor of Tokyo, Yōichi Masuzoe decides to scrap Sano's logos and organizing the competition of the creation of the new logo.

In 2016, the new logo, created by Asao Tokoro, made from checkboards, were chosen and was revealed at the closing ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics.

See also

• List of flag bearers for Japan at the Olympics
• Category:Olympic competitors for Japan
• Japan at the Paralympics
• Japan at the Asian Games

External links

• "Japan". International Olympic Committee. November 2021.
• "Japan". Olympedia.com.
• "Olympic Analytics/JPN". olympanalyt.com.