Japan at the 1968 Summer Olympics
# Japan at the 1968 Summer Olympics

Japan competed at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico. 171 competitors, 146 men and 25 women, took part in 97 events in 18 sports.

## Medalists

| Medal | Name | Sport | Event | Date |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Gold | Yoshinobu Miyake | Weightlifting | Men's 60 kg | October 14 |
| Gold | Shigeo Nakata | Wrestling | Men's freestyle 52 kg | October 20 |
| Gold | Yojiro Uetake | Wrestling | Men's freestyle 57 kg | October 20 |
| Gold | Masaaki Kaneko | Wrestling | Men's freestyle 63 kg | October 20 |
| Gold | Yukio Endo Sawao Kato Takeshi Katō Eizo Kenmotsu Akinori Nakayama Mitsuo Tsukahara | Gymnastics | Men's artistic team all-around | October 24 |
| Gold | Sawao Kato | Gymnastics | Men's artistic individual all-around | October 24 |
| Gold | Sawao Kato | Gymnastics | Men's floor | October 26 |
| Gold | Akinori Nakayama | Gymnastics | Men's parallel bars | October 26 |
| Gold | Akinori Nakayama | Gymnastics | Men's horizontal bar | October 26 |
| Gold | Akinori Nakayama | Gymnastics | Men's rings | October 26 |
| Gold | Muneji Munemura | Wrestling | Men's Greco-Roman 70 kg | October 26 |
| Silver | Masushi Ouchi | Weightlifting | Men's 75 kg | October 16 |
| Silver | Kenji Kimihara | Athletics | Men's marathon | October 20 |
| Silver | Hideo Fujimoto | Wrestling | Men's Greco-Roman 63 kg | October 26 |
| Silver | Akinori Nakayama | Gymnastics | Men's floor | October 26 |
| Silver | Yukio Endo | Gymnastics | Men's vault | October 26 |
| Silver | Setsuko Yoshida Suzue Takayama Toyoko Iwahara Youko Kasahara Aiko Onozawa Yukiyo Kojima Sachiko Fukanaka Kunie Shishikura Setsuko Inoue Sumie Oinuma Makiko Furakawa Keiko Hama | Volleyball | Women's tournament | October 26 |
| Silver | Masayuki Minami Katsutoshi Nekoda Mamoru Shiragami Isao Koizumi Kenji Kimura Yasuaki Mitsumori Naohiro Ikeda Jungo Morita Tadayoshi Yokota Seiji Oko Tetsuo Satō Kenji Shimaoka | Volleyball | Men's tournament | October 26 |
| Bronze | Yoshiyuki Miyake | Weightlifting | Men's 60 kg | October 14 |
| Bronze | Akinori Nakayama | Gymnastics | Men's artistic individual all-around | October 24 |
| Bronze | Takeshi Katō | Gymnastics | Men's floor | October 26 |
| Bronze | Eizo Kenmotsu | Gymnastics | Men's horizontal bar | October 26 |
| Bronze | Sawao Kato | Gymnastics | Men's rings | October 26 |
| Bronze | Eiji Morioka | Boxing | Men's bantamweight | October 26 |
| Bronze | Kenzo Yokoyama Hiroshi Katayama Masakatsu Miyamoto Yoshitada Yamaguchi Mitsuo Kamata Ryozo Suzuki Kiyoshi Tomizawa Takaji Mori Aritatsu Ogi Eizo Yuguchi Shigeo Yaegashi Teruki Miyamoto Masashi Watanabe Yasuyuki Kuwahara Kunishige Kamamoto Ikuo Matsumoto Ryuichi Sugiyama Masahiro Hamazaki | Football | Men's football | October 26 |

Medals by sport :

| Sport | | | | Total |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Gymnastics | 6 | 2 | 4 | 12 |
| Wrestling | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Weightlifting | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Volleyball | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Athletics | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Boxing | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Football | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 11 | 7 | 7 | 25 |

## Athletics

### Track & road events

| Athlete | Event | Heat | Heat | Quarterfinal | Quarterfinal | Semifinal | Semifinal | Final | Final |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Athlete | Event | Result | Rank | Result | Rank | Result | Rank | Result | Rank |
| Hiroomi Yamada | Long jump | 7.67 | 17 | — | — | — | — | 7.93w | 10 |
| Naoki Abe | Long jump | 7.58 | 22 | — | — | — | — | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Shinji Ogura | Long jump | 7.57 | 24 | — | — | — | — | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Tsugumichi Suzuki | 10,000 metres | — | — | — | — | — | — | 30:52.0 | 19 |
| Keisuke Sawaki | 10,000 metres | — | — | — | — | — | — | 31:25.2 | 27 |
| Kenji Kimihara | Marathon | — | — | — | — | — | — | 2:23:31 | |

## Boxing

### Men

| Athlete | Event | Round of 32 | Round of 16 | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | Final |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Athlete | Event | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Rank |
| Watanabe | Light Flyweight | Zaporozhets (URS) L 0–3 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Nakamura | Flyweight | Bye | Bye | Delgado (MEX) L 0–5 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Morioka' | Flyweight | Bye | Bye | Dowling (IRL) W 4–1 | Sokolov (URS) L 5–0 | | |

## Canoeing

### Sprint

**men**

| Athlete | Event | Heats | Heats | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | Final |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Athlete | Event | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank |
| Tetsumasa Yamaguchi | C-1 1000 metres | 4:33.3 | Qs | 4:54.61 | 5 | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Tetsumasa Yamaguchi Nobuatsu Yoshino | C-2 1000 m | 3:58.44 | 5 QS | 4:29.54 | 5 | Did not advance | Did not advance |

## Cycling

One cyclist represented Japan in 1968.

### Track

**Sprint**

| Athlete | Event | Qualification | Qualification | Round 1 | Repechage 1 | Round 2 | Repechage 2 | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | Final |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Athlete | Event | Time Speed (km/h) | Rank | Opposition Time Speed (km/h) | Opposition Time Speed (km/h) | Opposition Time Speed (km/h) | Opposition Time Speed (km/h) | Opposition Time Speed (km/h) | Opposition Time Speed (km/h) | Opposition Time Speed (km/h) | Rank |
| Sanji Inoue | Men's Sprint | | | | | | Kravtsov (URS) L | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |

### Road

**Men**

| Athlete | Event | Time | Rank |
| - | - | - | - |
| Sanji Inoue | time trial | 1:07.54 | 19 |

## Diving

### Men

| Athlete | Event | Preliminaries | Preliminaries | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | Final |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Athlete | Event | Points | Rank | Points | Rank | Points | Rank |
| Junji Yuasa | 3 m springboard | 86.80 | 18 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Junji Yuasa | 10 m springboard | 84.10 | 23 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Toshio Otsubo | 10 m springboard | 83.18 | 24 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Yosuke Arimitsu | 10 m springboard | 81.72 | 26 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |

### Women

| Athlete | Event | Preliminaries | Preliminaries | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | Final |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Athlete | Event | Points | Rank | Points | Rank | Points | Rank |
| Keiko Osaki | 3 m springboard | DNS | DNS |
| Keiko Osaki | 10 m platform | | | | | | |

## Fencing

Five fencers, all men, represented Japan in 1968.

### Men's foil

* Heizaburo Okawa
* Kazuo Mano
* Fujio Shimizu

### Men's team foil

* Masaya Fukuda, Heizaburo Okawa, Fujio Shimizu, Kazuhiko Wakasugi, Kazuo Mano

## Football

### Group play

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Spain | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | +4 | 5 |
| Japan | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 4 |
| Brazil | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 2 |
| Nigeria | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 9 | −5 | 1 |

## Modern pentathlon

Three male pentathletes represented Japan in 1968.

### Individual

* Yuso Makihira
* Katsuaki Tashiro
* Toshio Fukui

### Team

* Yuso Makihira
* Katsuaki Tashiro
* Toshio Fukui

## Rowing

### Men

| Athlete | Event | Heats | Heats | Repechage | Repechage | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | Final |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Athlete | Event | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank |
| Tsugio Ito | Single sculls | 8:10.00 | 6 R | 7:58.08 | 4 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Masatoshi Shimizu Tomio Murai Tadamasa Kato Shigeru Miyagawa Fumio Nakata Jujiro Tanaka Toshi Fukumasu Yoshinori Arai Katsumi Yamamoto (cox) | Eight | 6:34.79 | 6 R | 6:44.37 | 5 FB | — | — | 6:52.02 | 6 |

## Shooting

Six shooters, all men, represented Japan in 1968.

### Open

| Athlete | Event | Final | Final |
| - | - | - | - |
| Athlete | Event | Points | Rank |
| Takeo Kamachi | 25 m rapid fire pistol | 586 | 12 |
| Shigeto Kusunoki | 50 m pistol | 528 | 50 |
| Shigemi Saito | 50 m rifle, prone | 576 | 84 |
| Hiromu Sekine | 50 m rifle, prone | 585 | 60 |
| Makoto Shiraishi | 25 m rapid fire pistol | 582 | 23 |
| Yoshihisa Yoshikawa | 50 m pistol | 548 | 17 |

## Volleyball

### Men's Tournament

**Group play**

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | Pts | SW | SL | SR | SPW | SPL | SPR |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Soviet Union | 9 | 8 | 1 | 17 | 26 | 8 | 3.250 | 464 | 326 | 1.423 |
| 2 | Japan | 9 | 7 | 2 | 16 | 24 | 6 | 4.000 | 430 | 258 | 1.667 |
| 3 | Czechoslovakia | 9 | 7 | 2 | 16 | 22 | 15 | 1.467 | 454 | 417 | 1.089 |
| 4 | East Germany | 9 | 6 | 3 | 15 | 22 | 12 | 1.833 | 449 | 374 | 1.201 |
| 5 | Poland | 9 | 6 | 3 | 15 | 18 | 11 | 1.636 | 371 | 281 | 1.320 |
| 6 | Bulgaria | 9 | 4 | 5 | 13 | 16 | 17 | 0.941 | 379 | 385 | 0.984 |
| 7 | United States | 9 | 4 | 5 | 13 | 15 | 18 | 0.833 | 383 | 414 | 0.925 |
| 8 | Belgium | 9 | 2 | 7 | 11 | 6 | 24 | 0.250 | 239 | 417 | 0.573 |
| 9 | Brazil | 9 | 1 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 25 | 0.320 | 357 | 469 | 0.761 |
| 10 | Mexico | 9 | 0 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 27 | 0.222 | 289 | 474 | 0.610 |

### Women's Tournament

**Women's Team Competition**

* Round Robin

   * Defeated United States (3-0)

   * Defeated Mexico (3-0)

   * Defeated Peru (3-0)

   * Defeated Czechoslovakia (3-0)

   * Defeated Poland (3-0)

   * Defeated South Korea (3-0)

   * Lost to Soviet Union (1-3) → Silver Medal
* Team Roster

   * Setsuko Yosjida

   * Suzue Takayama

   * Toyoko Iwahara

   * Youko Kasahara

   * Aiko Onozawa

   * Yukiyo Kojima

   * Sachiko Fukanaka

   * Kunie Shishikura

   * Setsuko Inoue

   * Sumie Oinuma

   * Makiko Furakawa

   * Keiko Hama

## Water polo

* Team Roster

   * Haruo Sato

   * Hirokatsu Kuwayama

   * Kazuya Takeuchi

   * Koji Nakano

   * Kunio Yonehara

   * Seiya Sakamoto

   * Shigeharu Kuwabara

   * Shuzo Yajima

   * Tetsunosuke Ishii

### Group play

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Italy | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 48 | 21 | +27 | 13 |
| 2 | Yugoslavia | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 65 | 18 | +47 | 11 |
| 3 | East Germany | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 66 | 22 | +44 | 11 |
| 4 | Netherlands | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 42 | 28 | +14 | 9 |
| 5 | Japan | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 26 | 57 | −31 | 6 |
| 6 | Mexico | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 27 | 56 | −29 | 3 |
| 7 | Greece | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 34 | 62 | −28 | 2 |
| 8 | Egypt | 7 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 21 | 65 | −44 | 1 |
| Italy | 9–2 | Japan |
| Japan | 8–7 | Greece |
| Netherlands | 9–1 | Japan |
| Egypt | 7–4 | Japan |
| East Germany | 8–0 | Japan |
| Mexico | 3–6 | Japan |
| Yugoslavia | 17'–0 | Japan |
