# Japan at the 1996 Summer Olympics

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.

## Medalists

| Medal | Name | Sport | Event | Date |
| Gold | Yuko Emoto | Judo | Women's half middleweight | July 23 |
| Gold | Kenzo Nakamura | Judo | Men's lightweight | July 24 |
| Gold | Tadahiro Nomura | Judo | Men's extra lightweight | July 26 |
| Silver | Yoko Tanabe | Judo | Women's half heavyweight | July 21 |
| Silver | Toshihiko Koga | Judo | Men's half middleweight | July 23 |
| Silver | Yukimasa Nakamura | Judo | Men's half lightweight | July 25 |
| Silver | Ryoko Tamura | Judo | Women's extra lightweight | July 26 |
| Silver | Alicia Kinoshita Yumiko Shige | Sailing | Women's 470 | August 1 |
| Silver | Masanori Sugiura Takayuki Takabayashi Yoshitomo Tani Hitoshi Ono Yasuyuki Saigo Tomoaki Sato Daishin Nakamura Masahiro Nojima Hideaki Okubo Koichi Misawa Masahiko Mori Masao Morinaka Takashi Kurosu Takao Kuwamoto Nobuhiko Matsunaka Takeo Kawamura Jutaro Kimura Kosuke Fukudome Tadahito Iguchi Makoto Imaoka | Baseball | Men's tournament | August 2 |
| Bronze | Takanobu Jumonji | Cycling | Men's 1000 m time trial | July 24 |
| Bronze | Noriko Narazaki | Judo | Women's half lightweight | July 25 |
| Bronze | Yuko Arimori | Athletics | Women's marathon | July 28 |
| Bronze | Takuya Ota | Wrestling | Men's freestyle 74 kg | August 2 |
| Bronze | Junko Tanaka Miya Tachibana Kaori Takahashi Miho Takeda Miho Kawabe Akiko Kawase Riho Nakajima Raika Fujii Mayuko Fujiki Rei Jimbo | Synchronized swimming | Women's competition | August 2 |
Medals by sport :
| Sport | | | | Total |
| Judo | 3 | 4 | 1 | 8 |
| Baseball | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Sailing | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Athletics | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Cycling | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Synchronized swimming | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Wrestling | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 3 | 6 | 5 | 14 |

## Archery

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.
Women's Individual Competition:
* Kinue Kodama → Round of 32, 24th place (1-1)
* Ai Ouchi → Round of 64, 41st place (0-1)
* Misato Koide → Round of 64, 56th place (0-1)
Men's Individual Competition:
* Hiroshi Yamamoto → Round of 32, 19th place (1-1)
* Takayoshi Matsushita → Round of 32, 27th place (1-1)
Women's Team Competition:
* Kodama, Ouchi, and Koide → Round of 16, 14th place (0-1)

## Athletics

Men's 100 metres
* Nobuharu Asahara
* Hiroyasu Tsuchie
Men's 200 metres
* Koji Ito
* Takahiro Mazuka
Men's 400 metres
* Shigekazu Omori
Men's 10,000 metres
* Toshinari Takaoka
* Katsuhiko Hanada
Men's 4 × 100 metres Relay
* Nobuharu Asahara
* Hiroyasu Tsuchie
* Koji Ito
* Satoru Inoue
Men's 4 × 400 metres Relay
* Shunji Karube, Koji Ito, Jun Osakada, and Shigekazu Omori
   * Heat — 3:02.82
   * Semi Final — 3:01.92
   * Final — 3:00.76 (→ 5th place)
Men's 400m Hurdles
* Shunji Karube
   * Heat — 48.96s (→ did not advance)
* Hideaki Kawamura
   * Heat — 49.88s (→ did not advance)
* Kazuhiko Yamazaki
   * Heat — 49.07s (→ did not advance)
Men's Marathon
* Hiromi Taniguchi — 2:17.26 (→ 19th place)
* Masaki Oya — 2:22.13 (→ 54th place)
* Kenjiro Jitsui — 2:33.27 (→ 93rd place)
Men's 20 km Walk
* Daisuke Ikeshima — 1:24.54 (→ 22nd place)
Men's 50 km Walk
* Tadahiro Kosaka — 4:05.57 (→ 29th place)
Men's High Jump
* Tomohiro Nomura
Men's Long Jump
* Nobuharu Asahara
   * Qualification — 7.46m (→ did not advance)
Men's Pole Vault
* Teruyasu Yonekura
Women's 5,000 metres
* Michiko Shimizu
* Harumi Hiroyama
* Yoshiko Ichikawa
Women's 10,000 metres
* Masako Chiba
   * Qualification — 31:37.03
   * Final — 31:20.62 (→ 5th place)
* Yuko Kawakami
   * Qualification — 32:31.69
   * Final — 31:23.23 (→ 7th place)
* Hiromi Suzuki
   * Qualification — 31:54.89
   * Final — 32:43.39 (→ 16th place)
Women's Marathon
* Yuko Arimori — 2:28.39 (→ Bronze Medal)
* Izumi Maki — 2:32.35 (→ 12th place)
* Junko Asari — 2:34.31 (→ 17th place)
Women's 100 metres Hurdles
* Yvonne Kanazawa
Women's 10 km Walk
* Yuka Mitsumori — dsq (→ no ranking)
Women's Javelin Throw
* Akiko Miyajima
   * Qualification — 53.98m (→ did not advance)

## Baseball

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)

## Basketball
### Women's tournament
#### Preliminary round

| Pos | Teamvte | 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 | Quarterfinals |
| 3 | Italy | 5 | 3 | 2 | 330 | 309 | +21 | 8 | Quarterfinals |
| 4 | Japan | 5 | 2 | 3 | 365 | 396 | −31 | 7 | Quarterfinals |
| 5 | China | 5 | 1 | 4 | 347 | 378 | −31 | 6 | |
| 6 | Canada | 5 | 0 | 5 | 293 | 352 | −59 | 5 | |
* 21 July 1996 (1996-07-21)
* Boxscore
| Japan | 63–73 | Russia |
| Pts: Kato 15 Rebs: Kato 9 Asts: Murakami 6 | | Pts: Baranova 21 Rebs: Baranova 13 Asts: Sumnikova 5 |
* Morehouse College Gymnasium, Atlanta
* 23 July 1996 (1996-07-23)
* Boxscore
| China | 72–75 | Japan |
| Pts: Zheng H 31 Rebs: Zheng H 16 Asts: Li X 6 | | Pts: Hagiwara 23 Rebs: Kato 10 Asts: Murakami 4 |
* Morehouse College Gymnasium, Atlanta
* 25 July 1996 (1996-07-25)
| Brazil | 100–80 | Japan |
| Pts: Paula 25 Rebs: Leila 14 Asts: Paula 10 | | Pts: Ichijo 16 Rebs: Nagata, Murakami 5 Asts: Murakami 4 |
* Morehouse College Gymnasium, Atlanta
* 27 July 1996 (1996-07-27)
* Boxscore
| Japan | 52–66 | Italy |
| Pts: Murakami 13 Rebs: Ichijo 9 Asts: Murakami 5 | | Pts: Pollini, Arnetoli 13 Rebs: Fullin 11 Asts: Pollini, Ballabio 3 |
* Morehouse College Gymnasium, Atlanta
* 29 July 1996 (1996-07-29)
* Boxscore
| Canada | 85–95 | Japan |
| Pts: Jerant 15 Rebs: Norman 10 Asts: Evans 4 | | Pts: Hagiwara 26 Rebs: Murakami, Ichijo 5 Asts: Murakami, Kato 5 |
* Morehouse College Gymnasium, Atlanta

#### Quarterfinals

* 31 July 1996 (1996-07-31) 15:00
* Boxscore
| United States | 108–93 | Japan |
| Scoring by half: 59–44, 49–49 |||
| Pts: Leslie 35 Rebs: McClain 16 Asts: Edwards 12 | | Pts: Ichijo, Hagiwara 22 Rebs: Kato 8 Asts: Murakami 10 |
* Georgia Dome, Atlanta

#### Classification Round 5th−8th place

* 1 August 1996 (1996-08-01) 15:00
* Boxscore
| Russia | 80–69 | Japan |
| Scoring by half: 39–34, 41–35 |||
| Pts: Baranova 37 Rebs: Baranova 13 Asts: Sumnikova 14 | | Pts: Kato 19 Rebs: Ichijo 12 Asts: Murakami 7 |
* Georgia Dome, Atlanta

#### 7th place game

* 3 August 1996 (1996-08-03) 15:00
* Boxscore
| Italy | 69–81 | Japan |
| Scoring by half: 32–41, 37–40 |||
| Pts: Paparazzo 19 Rebs: Pollini 6 Asts: Caselin 5 | | Pts: Hagiwara 21 Rebs: Hagiwara, Hamaguchi 9 Asts: Harada 5 |
* Georgia Dome, Atlanta

## Beach volleyball

* Shoji Setoyama and Kazuyuki Takao — 17th place overall

## Boxing

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

## Cycling
### Track Competition

Men's Points Race
* Masahiro Yasuhara
   * Final — 2 points (→ 15th place)

### Mountain Bike

Men's Cross Country
* Kyoshi Miura
   * Final — 2:45:03 (→ 26th place)
Women's Cross Country
* Kanako Tanikawa
   * Final — 2:05.44 (→ 23rd place)

## Diving

Women's 3m Springboard
* Yuki Motobuchi
   * Preliminary Heat — 262.71
   * Semi Final — 210.00
   * Final — 296.04 (→ 6th place)

## Fencing

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

## Softball
### Women's Team 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

## Swimming

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)

## Tennis

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

## Volleyball
### Women's Indoor Team Competition

* 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