Tadahiro Nomura — Judo, Men's Extra Lightweight (60 kg)
Kenzo Nakamura — Judo, Men's Lightweight (71 kg)
Yuko Emoto — Judo, Women's Half Middleweight (61 kg)
Masanori Sugiura, Takayuki Takabayashi, Yoshitomo Tani, Hitoshi Ono, Yasuyuki Saigou, 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 Team Competition
Yukimasa Nakamura — Judo, Men's Half Lightweight (65 kg)
Toshihiko Koga — Judo, Men's Half Middleweight (78 kg)
Ryoko Tani — Judo, Women's Extra Lightweight (48 kg)
Yoko Tanabe — Judo, Women's Half Heavyweight (72 kg)
Alicia Kinoshita and Yumiko Shige — Sailing, Women's 470 Team Competition
Yuko Arimori — Athletics, Women's Marathon
Takanobu Jumonji — Cycling, Men's 1.000 m Time Trial
Noriko Narazaki — Judo, Women's Half Lightweight (52 kg)
Junko Tanaka, Miya Tachibana, Kaori Takahashi, Miho Takeda, Miho Kawabe, Akiko Kawase, Riho Nakajima, Raika Fujii, Mayuko Fujiki, and Rei Jinbo — Synchronised Swimming, Women's Team Competition
Takuya Ota — Wrestling, Men's Freestyle Welterweight (74 kg)
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)
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)
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)
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
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
