Japan at the 1996 Summer Olympics

Japan at the 1996 Summer Olympics
IOC code	JPN
NOC	Japanese Olympic Committee
Website	www.joc.or.jp (in Japanese and English)
in Atlanta
Competitors	306 (157 men and 149 women) in 27 sports
Flag bearer	Ryoko Tamura
Medals Ranked 23rd	Gold 3 Silver 6 Bronze 5 Total 14
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
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

Japan competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States. 306 competitors, 157 men and 149 women, took part in 168 events in 27 sports.^[1]

In the nation's sixth Olympic archery competition, three of Japan's five archers won their first matches. All three lost in the second round, however.

Men

Athlete	Event	Ranking round		Round of 64	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final / BM
		Score	Seed	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Takayoshi Matsushita	Individual	657	25	Bjerendal (SWE) W 163–162	Hsieh (TPE) L 156–157	Did not advance
Hiroshi Yamamoto		665	13	González (MEX) W 155–154	Torres (FRA) L 163–164	Did not advance

Women

Athlete	Event	Ranking round		Round of 64	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final / BM
		Score	Seed	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Kinue Kodama	Individual	613	52	Murzayeva (RUS) W 159–147	Galinovskaya (RUS) L 151–155	Did not advance
Misato Koide		583	58	Valeeva (MDA) L 141–159	Did not advance
Ai Ouchi		631	43	Sjöwall (SWE) L 152–152	Did not advance
Kinue Kodama Misato Koide Ai Ouchi	Team	1827	14	—	China (CHN) L 217–222	Did not advance

Men

Track and road events

Athlete	Event	Heats		Quarterfinal		Semifinal		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Nobuharu Asahara	100 metres	10.28	18 Q	10.19	13 Q	10.16	10	Did not advance
Hiroyasu Tsuchie		10.58	65	Did not advance
Koji Ito	200 metres	20.56	11 Q	20.47	7 Q	20.45	10	Did not advance
Takahiro Mazuka		21.13	59	Did not advance
Shigekazu Omori	400 metres	46.30	34	Did not advance
Katsuhiko Hanada	10,000 metres	28:52.22	27	—	Did not advance
Toshinari Takaoka		28:38.18	23	—	Did not advance
Kenjiro Jitsui	Marathon	—	2:33:27	93
Masaki Oya		—	2:22:13	54
Hiromi Taniguchi		—	2:17:26	19
Shunji Karube	400 metres hurdles	48.96	17	—	Did not advance
Hideaki Kawamura		49.88	32	—	Did not advance
Kazuhiko Yamazaki		49.07	19	—	Did not advance
Hiroyasu Tsuchie Koji Ito Satoru Inoue Nobuharu Asahara	4 × 100 metres relay	DQ		—	Did not advance
Shunji Karube Koji Ito Jun Osakada Shigekazu Omori Kenji Tabata*	4 × 400 metres relay	3:02.82	9 Q	—	3:01.92	6 Q	3:00.76	5
Daisuke Ikeshima	20 kilometres walk	—	1:24:54	21
Tadahiro Kosaka	50 kilometres walk	—	4:05:57	29

Field events

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final
		Distance	Position	Distance	Position
Tomohiro Nomura	High jump	2.15	27	Did not advance
Teruyasu Yonekura	Pole vault	5.20	30	Did not advance
Nobuharu Asahara	Long jump	7.46	36	Did not advance

Women

Track and road events

Athlete	Event	Heats		Quarterfinal		Semifinal		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Harumi Hiroyama	5000 metres	15:50.43	27	—	Did not advance
Yoshiko Ichikawa		15:58.90	34	—	Did not advance
Michiko Shimizu		15:23.56	12 Q	—	15:09.05	4
Masako Chiba	10,000 metres	31:37.03	4 Q	—	31:20.62	5
Yuko Kawakami		32:31.69	17 Q	—	31:23.23	7
Hiromi Suzuki		31:54.89	7 Q	—	32:43.39	16
Yuko Arimori	Marathon	—	2:28:39
Junko Asari		—	2:34:31	17
Izumi Maki		—	2:32:35	12
Yvonne Kanazawa	100 metres hurdles	13.30	35	Did not advance
Yuka Mitsumori	10 kilometres walk	—	DQ

Field events

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final
		Distance	Position	Distance	Position
Akiko Miyajima	Javelin throw	53.98	29	Did not advance

Defending bronze medalist Japan competed for the second time in the Olympic baseball tournament. They got off to a rough start, losing three of their first four games to Australia, Cuba, and the United States. After winning their next three, however, the Japanese were in a tie with the Nicaraguans for third and fourth places. Since Japan had beaten Nicaragua in head-to-head competition, they won the tie-breaker and faced the United States in the semifinals rather than the Cubans, which had not lost any of their 16 games in the 1992 and 1996 Olympiads. Japan defeated the United States to advance to the final, where they became the Cubans' 18th victim (Nicaragua's loss in the semifinals being the 17th win for Cuba).

Men's Team Competition:

• Japan - Silver Medal (5-4)

Preliminary round

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Brazil	5	5	0	424	360	+64	10	Quarterfinals
2	Russia	5	4	1	378	342	+36	9
3	Italy	5	3	2	330	309	+21	8
4	Japan	5	2	3	365	396	−31	7
5	China	5	1	4	347	378	−31	6
6	Canada	5	0	5	293	352	−59	5

Quarterfinals

Classification Round 5th−8th place

7th place game

• Shoji Setoyama and Kazuyuki Takao — 17th place overall

Men's Flyweight (– 51 kg)

• Kazumasa Tsujimoto

• First Round — Lost to Lernik Papyan (Armenia), 5-10

Men's Light Welterweight (– 63,5 kg)

• Fumitaka Nitami

• First Round — Lost to Eduard Zakharov (Russia), 6-21

Men's Middleweight (– 75 kg)

• Hirokuni Moto

• First Round — Defeated Tao Chen (China), 15-10
• First Round — Lost to Tomasz Borowski (Poland), 6-11

Men's Points Race

• Masahiro Yasuhara

• Final — 2 points (→ 15th place)

Men's Cross Country

• Kyoshi Miura

• Final — 2:45:03 (→ 26th place)

Women's Cross Country

• Kanako Tanikawa

• Final — 2:05.44 (→ 23rd place)

Women's 3m Springboard

• Yuki Motobuchi

• Preliminary Heat — 262.71
• Semi Final — 210.00
• Final — 296.04 (→ 6th place)

Four fencers, one man and three women, represented Japan in 1996.

Men's foil

• Hiroki Ichigatani

Women's épée

• Noriko Kubo
• Yuko Arai
• Nanae Tanaka

Women's team épée

• Nanae Tanaka, Noriko Kubo, Yuko Arai

Men's competition

Women's competition

• Preliminary Round Robin

• Defeated Netherlands (3:0)
• Defeated PR China (3:0)
• Lost to United States (1:6)
• Defeated Canada (4:0)
• Lost to Australia (0:10)
• Defeated Puerto Rico (8:1)
• Defeated Chinese Taipei (5:1)

• Semifinals

• Lost to Australia (0:3)

• Bronze Medal Match

• Did not advance → 4th place

• Team roster

• Juri Takayama
• Noriko Yamaji
• Haruka Saito
• Misako Ando
• Naomi Matsumoto
• Yoshiko Fujimoto
• Ikuko Fukita
• Noriko Harada
• Mayumi Inoue
• Chika Kodama
• Kyoko Kobayashi
• Kyoko Mochida
• Emi Tsukada
• Masako Watanabe
• Tomoko Watanabe

• Head coach: Mitsutoshi Suzumura

Men's 50 metres Freestyle:

• Yukihiro Matsushita

• Heat — 23.60 (→ did not advance, 35th place)

Men's 100 metres Freestyle:

• Shunsuke Ito

• Heat — 51.29 (→ did not advance, 37th place)

Men's 200 metres Freestyle:

• Shunsuke Ito

• Heat — 1:51.97 (→ did not advance, 23rd place)

Men's 400 metres Freestyle:

• Hisato Yasui

• Heat — 4:00.19 (→ did not advance, 24th place)

Men's 1500 m Freestyle

• Masato Hirano

• Heat — 15:19.48
• B-Final — 15:17.28 (→ 6th place)

• Hisato Yasui

• Heat — 15:43.66 (→ did not advance, 22nd place)

Men's 100 m Backstroke

• Keitaro Konnai

• Heat — 56.35
• B-Final — 55.74 (→ 9th place)

• Hajime Itoi

• Heat — 56.22
• B-Final — 56.23 (→ 11th place)

Men's 200 m Backstroke

• Hajime Itoi

• Heat — 2:00.43
• Final — 2:00.10 (→ 5th place)

• Ryuji Horii

• Heat — 2:02.33
• B-Final — 2:01.54 (→ 9th place)

Men's 100 m Breaststroke

• Akira Hayashi

• Heat — 1:02.63
• B-Final — 1:02.75 (→ 12th place)

• Yoshinobu Miyazaki

• Heat — 1:03.13 (→ did not advance, 22nd place)

Men's 200 m Breaststroke

• Akira Hayashi

• Heat — 2:15.37
• B-Final — 2:16.69 (→ 16th place)

Men's 100 m Butterfly

• Takashi Yamamoto

• Heat — 53.95
• B-Final — 53.98 (→ 13th place)

• Yukihiro Matsushita

• Heat — 54.50 (→ did not advance, 20th place)

Men's 200 m Butterfly

• Takashi Yamamoto

• Heat — 2:00.87 (→ did not advance, 20th place)

Men's 200 m Individual Medley

• Tatsuya Kinugasa

• Heat — 2:03.42
• B-Final — 2:04.59 (→ 14th place)

• Jo Yoshimi

• Heat — 2:04.49
• B-Final — 2:05.42 (→ 16th place)

Men's 400 m Individual Medley

• Toshiaki Kurasawa

• Heat — 4:24.83
• B-Final — 4:23.36 (→ 10th place)

• Tatsuya Kinugasa

• Heat — 4:26.73
• B-Final — 4:24.25 (→ 11th place)

Men's 4 × 100 m Medley Relay

• Keitaro Konnai, Akira Hayashi, Takashi Yamamoto and Shunsuke Ito

• Heat — 3:41.78
• Final — 3:40.51 (→ 5th place)

Women's 50 m Freestyle

• Sumika Minamoto

• Heat — 25.89
• B-Final — 26.05 (→ 12th place)

Women's 100 m Freestyle

• Sumika Minamoto

• Heat — 57.25 (→ did not advance, 25th place)

Women's 200 m Freestyle

• Suzu Chiba

• Heat — 2:01.11
• B-Final — 2:01.00 (→ 10th place)

• Naoko Imoto

• Heat — 2:03.78 (→ did not advance, 20th place)

Women's 400 m Freestyle

• Eri Yamanoi

• Heat — 4:13.40
• Final — 4:11.68 (→ 7th place)

• Suzu Chiba

• Heat — 4:16.07
• B-Final — 4:16.60 (→ 13th place)

Women's 800 m Freestyle

• Eri Yamanoi

• Heat — 8:40.47 (→ did not advance, 10th place)

• Aiko Miyake

• Heat — 8:55.77 (→ did not advance, 21st place)

Women's 100 m Backstroke

• Mai Nakamura

• Heat — 1:02.35
• Final — 1:02.33 (→ 4th place)

• Miki Nakao

• Heat — 1:02.90
• Final — 1:02.78 (→ 8th place)

Women's 200 m Backstroke

• Mai Nakamura

• Heat — 2:15.05
• B-Final — 2:13.40 (→ 9th place)

• Miki Nakao

• Heat — 2:12.92
• Final — 2:13.57 (→ 5th place)

Women's 100 m Breaststroke

• Masami Tanaka

• Heat — 1:09.89
• B-Final — 1:10.43 (→ 13th place)

• Kyoko Iwasaki

• Heat — 1:11.33 (→ did not advance, 22nd place)

Women's 200 m Breaststroke

• Masami Tanaka

• Heat — 2:29.36
• Final — 2:28.05 (→ 5th place)

• Kyoko Iwasaki

• Heat — 2:30.84
• B-Final — 2:29.32 (→ 10th place)

Women's 100 m Butterfly

• Hitomi Kashima

• Heat — 1:00.85
• Final — 1:00.11 (→ 4th place)

• Ayari Aoyama

• Heat — 1:00.20
• Final — 1:00.18 (→ 6th place)

Women's 200 m Butterfly

• Hitomi Kashima

• Heat — 2:16.04
• B-Final — 2:13.97 (→ 14th place)

• Mika Haruna

• Heat — 2:12.59
• Final — 2:11.93 (→ 7th place)

Women's 200 m Individual Medley

• Fumie Kurotori

• Heat — 2:20.58 (→ did not advance, 28th place)

Women's 400 m Individual Medley

• Fumie Kurotori

• Heat — 4:48.51
• B-Final — 4:47.98 (→ 12th place)

• Hideko Hiranaka

• Heat — 4:49.32
• B-Final — 4:48.72 (→ 13th place)

Women's 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay

• Sumika Minamoto, Naoko Imoto, Eri Yamanoi and Suzu Chiba

• Heat — 3:48.77 (→ did not advance, 12th place)

Women's 4 × 200 m Freestyle Relay

• Eri Yamanoi, Naoko Imoto, Aiko Miyake and Suzu Chiba

• Heat — 8:09.46
• Final — 8:07.46 (→ 4th place)

Women's 4 × 100 m Medley Relay

• Mai Nakamura, Masami Tanaka, Ayari Aoyama and Suzu Chiba

• Heat — 4:10.71 (→ did not advance, 9th place)

Men's Singles Competition

• Shuzo Matsuoka

• First round — Lost to Tim Henman (Great Britain) 6-7 3-6

Men's Doubles Competition

• Satoshi Iwabuchi and Takao Suzuki

• First round — Defeated Juan-Carlos Bianchi and Nicolas Pereira (Venezuela) 6-4, 6-7, 8-6
• Second round — Lost to Sergi Bruguera and Tomás Carbonell (Spain) 7-6, 2-6, 5-7

Women's Singles Competition

• Ai Sugiyama

• First round — Defeated Katarina Studenikova (Slovakia) 6-2 6-3
• Second round — Defeated Martina Hingis (Switzerland) 6-4 6-4
• Third round — Lost to Jana Novotná (Czech Republic) 3-6 4-6

• Kimiko Date

• First round — Defeated Dally Randriantefy (Madagascar) 6-0 6-1
• Second round — Defeated Virag Csurgo (Hungary) 6-2 6-3
• Third round — Defeated Magdalena Maleeva (Bulgaria) 6-4 6-4
• Quarter Finals — Lost to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (Spain) 6-4 3-6 8-10

• Naoko Sawamatsu

• First round — Defeated Sung-Hee Park (South Korea) 6-3 4-6 6-3
• Second round — Lost to Lindsay Davenport (United States) 2-6 2-6

• Preliminary round (group A)

• Lost to South Korea (0-3)
• Defeated Ukraine (3-0)
• Lost to Netherlands (0-3)
• Lost to United States (0-3)
• Lost to China (0-3)

• Quarterfinals

• did not advance (→ Ninth place)

• Team roster

• Kaiyo Hoshini
• Aki Nagatomi
• Kazumi Nakamura
• Chieko Nakanishi
• Motoko Ohbayashi
• Ikumi Ogake
• Mika Saiki
• Kiyomi Sakamoto
• Asako Tajimi
• Chiho Torii
• Mika Yamauchi
• Tomoko Yoshihara

• Head coach: Kuniaki Yoshida