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.^[1]

Japan at the 1968 Summer Olympics
IOC code	JPN
NOC	Japanese Olympic Committee
Website	www.joc.or.jp (in Japanese and English)
in Mexico City
Competitors	171 (146 men and 25 women) in 18 sports
Flag bearer	Yukio Endo
Medals Ranked 3rd	Gold 11 Silver 7 Bronze 7 Total 25
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
1912 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024

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

Main article: Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics

Men

Track & road events

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

Boxing

Main article: Boxing at the 1968 Summer Olympics

Men

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

Canoeing

Main article: Canoeing at the 1968 Summer Olympics

Sprint

men

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

Cycling

Main article: Cycling at the 1968 Summer Olympics

One cyclist represented Japan in 1968.

Track

Sprint

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Round 1	Repechage 1	Round 2	Repechage 2	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final
		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

Road

Men

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

Diving

Main article: Diving at the 1968 Summer Olympics

Men

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

Women

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

Equestrian

Main article: Equestrian at the 1968 Summer Olympics

Fencing

Main article: Fencing at the 1968 Summer Olympics

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

Main article: Football at the 1968 Summer Olympics

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

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Japan	3 – 1	Nigeria
Kamamoto 24' 72' 89'	Report	Okoye 33'

1968-10-14

12:00

Estadio Cuauhtémoc, Puebla

Referee: Ramon Sagastume Marmol

Brazil	1 – 1	Japan
Ferretti 9'	Report	Watanabe 83'

1968-10-16

12:00

Estadio Cuauhtémoc, Puebla

Referee: George Lamptey

Spain	0 – 0	Japan
	Report

1968-10-18

12:00

Azteca Stadium, Mexico City

Referee: Erwin Hieger

Quarterfinals

Japan	3 – 1	France
Kamamoto 27' 59' Watanabe 70'	Report	Tamboueon 32'

1968-10-20

12:00

Azteca Stadium, Mexico City

Referee: Seyoum Tarekegn

Semi final

Hungary	5 – 0	Japan
Szűcs 30' 60' 75' Novák 53' 65'	Report

1968-10-22

12:00

Azteca Stadium, Mexico City

Referee: Romualdo Arppi Filho

Bronze Medal Match

Japan	2 – 0	Mexico
Kamamoto 20' 40'	Report

1968-10-24

12:00

Azteca Stadium, Mexico City

Attendance: 105,000

Referee: Abraham Klein

Gymnastics

Main article: Gymnastics at the 1968 Summer Olympics

Hockey

Main article: Field hockey at the 1968 Summer Olympics

Modern pentathlon

Main article: Modern pentathlon at the 1968 Summer Olympics

Three male pentathletes represented Japan in 1968.

Individual

• Yuso Makihira
• Katsuaki Tashiro
• Toshio Fukui

Team

• Yuso Makihira
• Katsuaki Tashiro
• Toshio Fukui

Rowing

Main article: Rowing at the 1968 Summer Olympics

Men

Athlete	Event	Heats		Repechage		Semifinals		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Tsugio Ito	Single sculls	8:10.00	6 R	7:58.08	4	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

Main article: Shooting at the 1968 Summer Olympics

Six shooters, all men, represented Japan in 1968.

Open

Athlete	Event	Final
		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		585	60
Makoto Shiraishi	25 m rapid fire pistol	582	23
Yoshihisa Yoshikawa	50 m pistol	548	17

Swimming

Main article: Swimming at the 1968 Summer Olympics

Volleyball

Main article: Volleyball at the 1968 Summer Olympics

Men's Tournament

Main article: Volleyball at the 1968 Summer Olympics – 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

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Women's Tournament

Main article: Volleyball at the 1968 Summer Olympics – 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

Main article: Water polo at the 1968 Summer Olympics

• 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

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

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

Weightlifting

Main article: Weightlifting at the 1968 Summer Olympics

Wrestling

Main article: Wrestling at the 1968 Summer Olympics