# Japan at the 1972 Winter Olympics

Japan was the host nation for the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo. It was the first time that Japan had hosted the Winter Olympic Games, but second time overall after the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. It was also the first Winter Olympic Games held in Asia. The host nation sent 90 athletes, consisting of 70 men and 20 women, along with 20 officers. The flag bearer for the Japanese team, Mineyuki Mashiko did not participate in the game, but instead held the position of team manager.
Three Japanese ski jumpers swept the medals in the normal hill event, becoming national heroes. This achievement also made Yukio Kasaya the first gold medalist for Japan at the Winter Olympic Games. He was also the first ever Asian to win a Winter Olympic gold medal.

## Medalists

| Medal | Name | Sport | Event | Date |
| Gold | Yukio Kasaya | Ski jumping | Men's normal hill | February 6 |
| Silver | Akitsugu Konno | Ski jumping | Men's normal hill | February 6 |
| Bronze | Seiji Aochi | Ski jumping | Men's normal hill | February 6 |
Medals by sport :
| Sport | | | | Total |
| Ski jumping | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Total | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |

## Alpine skiing
### Men

| Athlete | Event | Race 1 | Race 1 | Race 2 | Race 2 | Total | Total |
| Athlete | Event | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank |
| Masahiko Otsue | Downhill | | | | | 1:59.55 | 35 |
| Sumihiro Tomii | Downhill | | | | | 1:55.34 | 22 |
| Masayoshi Kashiwagi | Giant Slalom | DSQ | – | – | – | DSQ | – |
| Masahiko Otsue | Giant Slalom | 1:38.71 | 34 | DSQ | – | DSQ | – |
| Haruhisa Chiba | Giant Slalom | 1:36.36 | 26 | 1:40.87 | 20 | 3:17.23 | 19 |
| Masami Ichimura | Giant Slalom | 1:35.77 | 22 | 1:39.57 | 12 | 3:15.34 | 15 |

### Men's slalom

| Athlete | Classification | Classification | Final | Final | Final | Final | Final | Final |
| Athlete | Time | Rank | Time 1 | Rank | Time 2 | Rank | Total | Rank |
| Haruhisa Chiba | 1:43.17 | 1 | 1:01.25 | 29 | DNF | – | DNF | – |
| Toshimasa Furukawa | 1:46.33 | 3 | ? | 25 | DSQ | – | DSQ | – |
| Masayoshi Kashiwagi | DNF | – | 1:00.19 | 24 | 56.42 | 17 | 1:56.61 | 18 |
| Masami Ichimura | 1:42.90 | 1 | 57.58 | 13 | 57.25 | 18 | 1:54.83 | 17 |

### Women

| Athlete | Event | Race 1 | Race 1 | Race 2 | Race 2 | Total | Total |
| Athlete | Event | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank |
| Emiko Okazaki | Downhill | | | | | 1:48.85 | 41 |
| Harue Okitsu | Downhill | | | | | 1:45.37 | 40 |
| Miyuki Katagiri | Downhill | | | | | 1:44.10 | 35 |
| Mitsuyo Nagumo | Downhill | | | | | 1:43.07 | 32 |
| Mitsuyo Nagumo | Giant Slalom | | | | | DSQ | – |
| Emiko Okazaki | Giant Slalom | | | | | 1:40.37 | 32 |
| Miyuki Katagiri | Giant Slalom | | | | | 1:39.11 | 30 |
| Harue Okitsu | Giant Slalom | | | | | 1:35.33 | 22 |
| Miyuki Katagiri | Slalom | DNF | – | – | – | DNF | – |
| Mitsuyo Nagumo | Slalom | DNF | – | – | – | DNF | – |
| Harue Okitsu | Slalom | 50.55 | 19 | 50.12 | 16 | 1:40.67 | 16 |
| Emiko Okazaki | Slalom | 50.06 | 18 | 49.47 | 14 | 1:39.53 | 13 |

## Biathlon
### Men

| Event | Athlete | Time | Penalties | Adjusted time $^1$ | Rank |
| 20 km | Kazuo Sasakubo | 1'19:07.43 | 9 | 1'28:07.43 | 38 |
| 20 km | Isao Ono | 1'16:26.83 | 7 | 1'23:26.83 | 25 |
| 20 km | Shozo Sasaki | 1'18:05.54 | 5 | 1'23:05.54 | 23 |
| 20 km | Miki Shibuya | 1'16:57.27 | 5 | 1'21:57.27 | 17 |
    $^1$ One minute added per close miss (a hit in the outer ring), two minutes added per complete miss.

### Men's 4 x 7.5 km relay

| Athletes | Race | Race | Race |
| Athletes | Misses $^2$ | Time | Rank |
| Isao Ono Shozo Sasaki Miki Shibuya Kazuo Sasakubo | 5 | 1'59:09.48 | 8 |
    $^2$ A penalty loop of 200 metres had to be skied per missed target.

## Bobsleigh

| Sled | Athletes | Event | Run 1 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Run 2 | Run 3 | Run 3 | Run 4 | Run 4 | Total | Total |
| Sled | Athletes | Event | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank |
| JPN-1 | Susumu Esashika Kazumi Abe | Two-man | 1:18.13 | 16 | 1:16.43 | 6 | 1:15.17 | 14 | 1:16.86 | 18 | 5:06.59 | 15 |
| JPN-2 | Akihiko Suzuki Rikio Sato | Two-man | 1:18.98 | 21 | 1:18.46 | 21 | 1:15.63 | 16 | 1:18.84 | 21 | 5:11.91 | 21 |
| Sled | Athletes | Event | Run 1 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Run 2 | Run 3 | Run 3 | Run 4 | Run 4 | Total | Total |
| Sled | Athletes | Event | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank |
| JPN-1 | Susumu Esashika Kazumi Abe Rikio Sato Yoshiyuki Ichihashi | Four-man | 1:11.51 | 6 | 1:12.99 | 15 | 1:11.42 | 12 | 1:12.00 | 13 | 4:47.92 | 12 |
| JPN-2 | Toshihisa Nagata Hiroshi Inaba Koichi Sugawara Akihiko Suzuki | Four-man | 1:11.51 | 6 | 1:12.99 | 15 | DSQ | – | – | – | DSQ | – |

## Cross-country skiing
### Men

| Event | Athlete | Race | Race |
| Event | Athlete | Time | Rank |
| 15 km | Motoharu Matsumura | 50:43.76 | 51 |
| 15 km | Akiyoshi Matsuoka | 49:50.72 | 43 |
| 15 km | Kunio Shibata | 49:38.95 | 41 |
| 15 km | Hideo Tanifuji | 49:06.97 | 37 |
| 30 km | Tomio Okamura | 1'47:50.22 | 47 |
| 30 km | Seiji Kudo | 1'47:00.40 | 44 |
| 30 km | Hideo Tanifuji | 1'45:37.13 | 37 |
| 30 km | Kunio Shibata | 1'42:30.83 | 23 |
| 50 km | Motoharu Matsumura | DNF | – |
| 50 km | Seiji Kudo | 2'57:42.62 | 29 |

### Men's 4 × 10 km relay

| Athletes | Race | Race |
| Athletes | Time | Rank |
| Hideo Tanifuji Kunio Shibata Akiyoshi Matsuoka Tomio Okamura | 2'13:59.14 | 10 |

### Women

| Event | Athlete | Race | Race |
| Event | Athlete | Time | Rank |
| 5 km | Akiko Akasaka | 19:49.74 | 43 |
| 5 km | Harumi Imai | 19:05.73 | 38 |
| 5 km | Tokiko Ozeki | 19:00.82 | 37 |
| 5 km | Hiroko Takahashi | 18:32.75 | 34 |
| 10 km | Hideko Saito | 39:51.61 | 38 |
| 10 km | Harumi Imai | 39:33.13 | 37 |
| 10 km | Tokiko Ozeki | 38:07.24 | 33 |
| 10 km | Hiroko Takahashi | 36:53.84 | 25 |

### Women's 3 × 5 km relay

| Athletes | Race | Race |
| Athletes | Time | Rank |
| Tokiko Ozeki Hiroko Takahashi Hideko Saito | 53:20.75 | 9 |

## Figure skating
### Men

| Athlete | CF | FS | Points | Places | Rank |
| Yutaka Higuchi | 16 | 15 | 2309.7 | 140 | 16 |

### Women

| Athlete | CF | FS | Points | Places | Rank |
| Kazumi Yamashita | 10 | 10 | 2449.9 | 93 | 10 |

### Pairs

| Athletes | SP | FS | Points | Places | Rank |
| Kotoe Nagasawa Hiroshi Nagakubo | 16 | 16 | 345.5 | 144 | 16 |

## Ice hockey
### First round

Winners (in bold) entered the Medal Round. Other teams played a consolation round for 7th-11th places.
| Team 1 | Score | Team 2 |
| Japan | 2–8 | Czechoslovakia |

### Consolation round

| Rank | Team | Pld | W | L | T | GF | GA | Pts |
| 7 | West Germany | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 22 | 10 | 6 |
| 8 | Norway | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 14 | 6 |
| 9 | Japan | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 16 | 5 |
| 10 | Switzerland | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 16 | 2 |
| 11 | Yugoslavia | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 17 | 1 |
* Japan 3-3 Switzerland
* Japan 3-2 Yugoslavia
* Japan 4-5 Norway
* Japan 7-6 West Germany
* Contestants Toshimitsu Otsubo Tsutomu Hanzawa Minoru Misawa Hiroshi Hori Iwao Nakayama Takeshi Akiba Fumio Yamazaki Takashi Tsuburai Minoru Ito Teruyasu Honma Yasushio Tanaka Hideaki Kurokawa Takao Hikigi Koji Iwamoto Isao Kakihara Toru Okajima Yoshio Hoshino Osamu Wakabayashi Hideo Suzuki

## Luge
### Men

| Athlete | Run 1 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Run 2 | Run 3 | Run 3 | Run 4 | Run 4 | Total | Total |
| Athlete | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank |
| Masatoshi Kobayashi | 55.30 | 32 | 54.43 | 25 | 53.00 | 19 | 53.66 | 27 | 3:36.39 | 24 |
| Satoru Arai | 54.76 | 26 | 55.07 | 30 | 53.75 | 25 | 53.73 | 29 | 3:37.31 | 26 |
| Masako Eguchi | 54.09 | 15 | 53.37 | 12 | 52.78 | 18 | 53.57 | 25 | 3:33.81 | 18 |
| Kazuaki Ichikawa | 54.09 | 15 | 54.21 | 22 | 53.29 | 22 | 53.40 | 22 | 3:34.99 | 20 |
(Men's) Doubles
| Athletes | Run 1 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Run 2 | Total | Total |
| Athletes | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank |
| Satoru Arai Masatoshi Kobayashi | 44.73 | 4 | 44.90 | 7 | 1:29.63 | 4 |
| Masako Eguchi Kazuaki Ichikawa | 46.93 | 19 | 46.63 | 18 | 1:33.56 | 18 |

### Women

| Athlete | Run 1 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Run 2 | Run 3 | Run 3 | Run 4 | Run 4 | Total | Total |
| Athlete | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank |
| Miyako Kawase | 47.93 | 20 | 47.31 | 19 | 46.72 | 18 | 46.14 | 18 | 3:08.10 | 19 |
| Hiroko Shibuya | 46.66 | 14 | 46.41 | 13 | 45.89 | 8 | 45.49 | 12 | 3:04.45 | 13 |
| Yuko Otaka | 45.21 | 4 | 45.65 | 5 | 45.39 | 5 | 44.73 | 5 | 3:00.98 | 5 |

## Nordic combined

Events:
* normal hill ski jumping (Three jumps, best two counted and shown here.)
* 15 km cross-country skiing
| Athlete | Event | Ski Jumping | Ski Jumping | Ski Jumping | Ski Jumping | Cross-country | Cross-country | Cross-country | Total | Total |
| Athlete | Event | Distance 1 | Distance 2 | Points | Rank | Time | Points | Rank | Points | Rank |
| Nobutaka Sasaki | Individual | 72.5 | 76.0 | 190.3 | 8 | 54:00.6 | 169.645 | 37 | 359.945 | 24 |
| Hideki Nakano | Individual | 82.0 | 81.0 | 220.5 | 1 | 55:41.2 | 154.555 | 39 | 375.055 | 13 |
| Yuji Katsuro | Individual | 74.5 | 78.0 | 195.1 | 6 | 51:10.9 | 195.100 | 18 | 390.200 | 5 |
| Kazuo Araya | Individual | 76.5 | 77.0 | 199.7 | 5 | 53:29.3 | 174.340 | 34 | 374.040 | 15 |

## Ski jumping

| Athlete | Event | Jump 1 | Jump 1 | Jump 2 | Jump 2 | Total | Total |
| Athlete | Event | Distance | Points | Distance | Points | Points | Rank |
| Takashi Fujisawa | Normal hill | 81.0 | 117.8 | 68.0 | 90.0 | 207.8 | 23 |
| Akitsugu Konno | Normal hill | 82.5 | 120.2 | 79.0 | 114.6 | 234.8 | |
| Seiji Aochi | Normal hill | 83.5 | 123.3 | 77.5 | 106.2 | 229.5 | |
| Yukio Kasaya | Normal hill | 84.0 | 126.6 | 79.0 | 117.6 | 244.2 | |
| Hiroshi Itagaki | Large hill | 90.0 | 96.0 | 84.0 | 87.1 | 183.1 | 19 |
| Takashi Fujisawa | Large hill | 95.5 | 107.2 | 86.0 | 89.9 | 197.1 | 14 |
| Akitsugu Konno | Large hill | 98.0 | 109.7 | 88.5 | 89.4 | 199.1 | 12 |
| Yukio Kasaya | Large hill | 106.0 | 124.9 | 85.0 | 84.5 | 209.4 | 7 |

## Speed skating
### Men

| Event | Athlete | Race | Race |
| Event | Athlete | Time | Rank |
| 500 m | Keiichi Suzuki | 41.28 | 19 |
| 500 m | Norio Hirate | 41.08 | 17 |
| 500 m | Takayuki Hida | 40.62 | 13 |
| 500 m | Masaki Suzuki | 40.35 | 8 |
| 1500 m | Kiyomi Ito | 2:11.96 | 22 |
| 1500 m | Mutsuhiko Maeda | 2:11.09 | 20 |
| 5000 m | Osamu Naito | 7:56.97 | 16 |
| 5000 m | Kiyomi Ito | 7:45.96 | 13 |
| 10,000 m | Osamu Naito | 15:52.93 | 12 |
| 10,000 m | Kiyomi Ito | 15:48.17 | 10 |

### Women

| Event | Athlete | Race | Race |
| Event | Athlete | Time | Rank |
| 500 m | Ryoko Onozawa | 46.70 | 21 |
| 500 m | Sachiko Saito | 45.35 | 9 |
| 1000 m | Ryoko Onozawa | 1:36.99 | 28 |
| 1000 m | Sachiko Saito | 1:35.12 | 18 |
| 1000 m | Emiko Taguchi | 1:34.40 | 15 |
| 1500 m | Kaname Ide | 2:28.34 | 18 |
| 1500 m | Emiko Taguchi | 2:28.19 | 17 |
| 1500 m | Satomi Koike | 2:25.16 | 11 |
| 3000 m | Akiko Aruga | 5:22.60 | 18 |
| 3000 m | Kaname Ide | 5:17.30 | 16 |
| 3000 m | Satomi Koike | 5:09.21 | 12 |