In his Olympic debut, Kagami defeated American Kennedy Blades to win the gold medal, Japan’s first medal in this weight class. Japan finished with 11 medals in freestyle wrestling at Paris 2024, adding 8 golds.
At his first Olympics, Kiyooka won gold with a 10-3 victory over Iran’s Rahman Amouzad in the final, matching the winning performance at Tokyo 2020 through Japanese wrestler Otoguro Takuto.
Motoki beat Norway’s Grace Bullen in a close semi-final before defeating Ukraine’s Iryna Koliadenko 12-1 in the final.
Coming into Paris 2024, Kitaguchi had a reputation for winning in his last throw, but he won the final with his first throw of 65. 80. She is Japan’s first medalist in a women’s boxing event.
Takatani defeated Uzbekistan’s Razambek Zhamalov in the final, but won Japan’s first medal on the occasion since 1996.
Satō showed his athletic versatility, being Japan’s first medalist in the event.
The Japanese team lost 3-0 to China in the final and maintained its record of consecutive medals since the 2012 London Olympics.
The 17-year-old is the first Japanese medalist in the men’s 10-meter platform event.
Competing with the so-called Ami, the Japanese dancer won gold on this new occasion at Paris 2024. Her dynamic performance allowed her to defeat the Lithuanian Nicka 3-0 in the final.
World No. 1 Sakurai defeated Moldova’s world No. 2 Anastasia Nichita in the final 6-0 to win gold in her first Olympic Games.
Higuchi beat American Spencer Lee 4-2 in the final. After winning silver at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Games, she returned to Paris 2024 after the sadness of a disqualification at the Tokyo 2020 weigh-in.
Anraku led the field in the semi-final, but took second place again in the final. The 17-year-old became the first Japanese medalist in men’s climbing to reach Tokyo 2020.
Fujinami dominated the festival in her Olympic debut, advancing smoothly and clinching gold with a 10-0 victory over Ecuador’s Lucia Yepez in the final. This is Japan’s first gold medal in women’s wrestling at Paris 2024.
The Japanese duo were in third position after 8 races, but a strong performance in the medal race for the top 10 earned them silver.
A surprise first-round loss to India’s Vinesh Phogat ended Susaki’s hopes of retaining her name at Tokyo 2020, but she managed to claim a bronze medal via repechage after Vinesh was disqualified for failing to weigh-in.
At the end of the first phase of the final, Kusaka trailed Kazakh Demeu Zhadrayev 2-0, but turned things around to win 5-2. Born in 2000, Kusaka’s name, Nao, is based on that of Takahashi Naoko, who won Olympic gold in the women’s Sydney Marathon that year.
Ozaki defeated Tokyo 2020 silver medalist Blessing Oborududu of Nigeria to win their bronze medal match.
After winning silver at Tokyo 2020, Fumita got one in Paris, beating China’s Cao Liguo 4-1 in the final. He also beat Zholaman Sharshenbekov in the semi-finals, having defeated the Kyrgyz wrestler in the final of last year’s World Championships.
World number one Hiraki scored a false 92. 63, but Australian skater Arisa Trew produced a very good 93. 18, so Hiraki could only claim her silver medal at Tokyo 2020.
Oka won her third gold medal at Paris 2024 on the top bar hours after winning bronze on the parallel bars. Its flawless functionality secured the win with a score of 14. 533, while other finalists made mistakes.
Oka’s score of 15. 300 earned him third place on the podium.
Japan beat hosts France in the semi-finals before beating Italy 45-36 in the final. Backup Nagano scored direct runs in the eighth stage before Iimura secured the win in the ninth. This is Japan’s fifth fencing medal at Paris 2024.
A strong final round with six birdies and no bogeys helped Matsuyama win Japan’s first Olympic medal in men’s golf.
After facing eventual champion Ukraine in the semifinals, Japan beat France in the bronze medal bout to win their fourth fencing medal of the games.
In a repeat of the Tokyo 2020 final, Japan lost to France and had to settle for silver. Abe Hifumi, who won gold in his singles event, had a chance to seal victory as Japan led 3-1, but lost to Joan-Benjamin. Gaba, who won silver in the overweight category. Saitō Tatsuru lost the decisive match to Teddy Riner.
Shida and Matsuyama achieved a direct 2-0 victory over Malaysian pair Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan in the bronze medal match.
After squandering the first match, Hayata came back to win the bronze medal against Shin Yu-bin of South Korea.
The Japanese team failed to retain its name in Tokyo 2020, losing in the final 26-25 to Hungary.
A 2-0 victory over a South Korean pair in the bronze medal match allowed Watanabe and Higashino to achieve their third place finish at Tokyo 2020.
A victory in the bronze medal match against Canada gave Japan its first medal in women’s fencing.
In his Olympic debut, Oka faced demanding situations from Chinese ace Zhang Boheng and teammate and Tokyo 2020 champion Hashimoto Daiki to win gold. Japanese gymnasts have won the men’s individual all-around event for 4 consecutive Olympic Games.
Olympic newcomer Murao reached the final, but lost in a war to Tokyo 2020 champion Lasha Bekauri of Georgia.
Nagase defeated world champion Tato Grigalashvili of Georgia in the final to retain his Olympic title, becoming the first winner of consecutive gold medals in his weight class. He also won bronze at the 2016 Rio Games.
In second place heading into the final apparatus, Japan finished first on the horizontal bar, beating China to win the gold medal. That name matches the name of the 2016 team in Rio, in a return to victory after settling for silver at Tokyo 2020.
Horigome retained his Olympic title, narrowly winning gold with a stunning score of 97. 08 on his fifth and final trick to finish just ahead of American skater Jagger Eaton.
An early waza-ari helped Hashimoto win her bronze medal against Akil Gjakova of Kosovo.
After a quarterfinal loss, Funakubo advanced in the repechage and beat 2016 Olympic champion Rafaela Silva of Brazil to win bronze.
With the bronze medal in this event, Japan won its first equestrian medal since 1932.
A member of the winning epee team at Tokyo 2020, Kanō clinched individual gold in Paris, beating Yannick Borel of host country France in the final despite enthusiastic local support.
A difficult finish in the freestyle stage allowed Matsushita to win a silver medal.
Nishiya Momiji and Nakayama Fūna won gold and bronze for Japan in the women’s street skate event at Tokyo 2020, and this time they went even further with gold and silver. Akama led until Yoshizawa scored an impressive 96. 49 with his fourth trick to win the gold medal. .
Abe Hifumi and his sister Uta won gold at Tokyo 2020. Hifumi retained his name in Paris, beating Brazil’s Willian Lima in the final, but Uta did a marvel in the second round.
After a debatable loss to Spanish’s Francisco Garrigos in the quarterfinals, Nagayama bounced back to qualify for the playoffs and win the bronze medal.
Tsunoda, a backward man, won gold at his first Olympics at the age of 31 years and 11 months, beating Baasankhuu Bavuudorj of Mongolia in the final.
(Originally in Japanese. Header photo: Wrestler Kagami Yūka celebrates her gold medal in the women’s 76kg wrestling event at Paris 2024. © Reuters. )