The performance of Japanese athletes at the Athens Olympics came as nothing less than spectacular for their compatriots.
During the first half of the Games, it seemed as if they were collecting medal after medal. When the Games ended on Sunday, Japan was sixth in terms of the number of medals won, winning 16 gold medals, nine silvers and 12 bronzes. The 16 gold medals equal Japan's record haul at the 1964 Tokyo summer Olympics. Even the Japan Olympic Committee (JOC), the organization that dispatches athletes to Athens, could not have forecast such a success.
The background to the acquisition of medals is different this year. Japan's matured economy still languishes in prolonged stagnation. This comes in contrast with the Tokyo Olympics, which were held at the height of the "go-man-go" period when the economy was starting to soar. Japan had just recovered from its defeat in war, and the Olympics provided this nation with a golden chance to give a real lift to national morale.