Japan at the 2008 Summer Olympics


Japan competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. The delegation of athletes and officials were represented by the Japanese Olympic Committee.
The list of qualified entries for Japan is shown. In some cases, the country qualified for a position in the Olympic Games, and the individual performance in the qualifying event was good enough to guarantee the same person a spot on Japan's team. In other cases, the Japan Olympic Committee assigned a competitor at a later date to fill some of the country's qualified positions, and the Olympic competitor may or may not be the same as the one who participated in the qualifying competition.

Medalists

MedalNameSportEventDate
JudoMen's 66 kgAugust 10
SwimmingMen's 100 m breaststrokeAugust 11
JudoWomen's 63 kgAugust 12
JudoWomen's 70 kgAugust 13
SwimmingMen's 200 m breaststrokeAugust 14
JudoMen's +100 kgAugust 15
WrestlingWomen's freestyle 55 kgAugust 16
WrestlingWomen's freestyle 63 kgAugust 17
Naho Emoto
Motoko Fujimoto
Megu Hirose
Emi Inui
Sachiko Ito
Ayumi Karino
Satoko Mabuchi
Yukiyo Mine
Masumi Mishina
Rei Nishiyama
Hiroko Sakai
Rie Sato
Mika Someya
Yukiko Ueno
Eri Yamada		SoftballTournamentsAugust 21





GymnasticsTeam all-aroundAugust 12
FencingMen's foilAugust 13
GymnasticsIndividual all-aroundAugust 14
JudoWomen's +78 kgAugust 15
WrestlingWomen's freestyle 48 kgAugust 16
WrestlingMen's freestyle 55 kgAugust 19
WrestlingMen's freestyle 60 kgAugust 19



AthleticsMen's 4 × 100 m relayAugust 22
JudoWomen's 48 kgAugust 9
JudoWomen's 52 kgAugust 10
SwimmingMen's 200 m butterflyAugust 13
SwimmingWomen's 200 m backstrokeAugust 16
CyclingKeirinAugust 16



SwimmingMen's 4 × 100 m medley relayAugust 17
WrestlingWomen's freestyle 72 kgAugust 17

Synchronized swimmingWomen's duetAugust 20

Archery

Japan qualified four archers through the 2007 World Outdoor Target Championships individual competitions, and added a third women's qualification spot at the Asian Championships. This allowed Japan to compete in the women's team competition at the Olympics, as well as having three women and two men compete in the individual competitions.
Takaharu Furukawa, Ryuichi Moriya, Nami Hayakawa, Sayoko Kitabatake and Yuki Hayashi were the archers who earned the qualification spots for Japan.
Japan has not yet won an Olympic gold medal in archery; its best results are a pair of silver medals, including Hiroshi Yamamoto's in the 2004 men's individual competition.
;Men
;Women

Athletics

;Men
;Track & road events
;Field events
;Women
;Track & road events
;Field events

Badminton

;Men
;Women

Baseball

Japan's victory in the 2007 Asian Baseball Championship qualified the Japan national baseball team for Olympic competition. Japan, along with Cuba, has appeared in every Olympic baseball tournament since the sport was elevated to official status. Japan has reached the semifinals each year and taken one silver and two bronze medals, but has yet to win the Olympic championship.
;Roster
Pitchers:
Catchers:
Infielders:
Outfielders:
Group stage










Group table
TeamGWLRSRAWIN%GBTiebreaker
77041221.000--
7615223.8571-
7524022.7142-
7433014.5713-
7252933.28651-0
7252920.28650-1
716950.14361-0
7161460.14360-1

Semifinal
Bronze medal game

Boxing

Japan qualified two boxers for the Olympic boxing tournament. Masatsugu was the first when he qualified at the World Championships. Satoshi was the second, qualifying at the first Asian qualifying event.

Canoeing

Slalom

Sprint

Qualification Legend: QS = Qualify to semi-final; QF = Qualify directly to final

Cycling

Road

Track

Japan has qualified entries in men's Keirin, sprint, team sprint and points race, and women's points race and sprint.
;Sprint
;Keirin
;Omnium

Mountain biking

BMX

Diving

One Japanese member qualified for the 3 meter springboard event, by virtue of Ken Terauchi's third-place finish in the semifinal round at the 2007 World Championships. This was the first individual qualification spot earned by Japan for the 2008 Olympics.
;Men
;Women

Equestrian

Dressage

Eventing

Show jumping

Taizo Sugitani finished qualifying in 37th place which made him a reserve rider for the final. After several qualified horses tested positive for use of capsaicin, he was moved up and participated in Final A.

Fencing

;Men
;Women

Field hockey

Women's tournament

;Team roster
;Group play
;9th–10th place

Football (soccer)

Men's tournament

;Roster
;Group play

Women's tournament

;Roster
;Group play
;Quarterfinals
;Semifinals
;Bronze medal game
;Final rank
4th place

Gymnastics

Artistic

;Men
;Team
*Due to a coaching decision, Hiroyuki Tomita started in the individual all-around final instead of Koki Sakamoto. Tomita had finished qualification in 6th place, but behind his teammates Uchimura and Sakamoto, and no more than two gymnasts from the same nation are allowed in the final.
;Individual finals
;Women
;Team
;Individual finals
Kyoko Oshima qualified for the All-Around final of the top 24 gymnasts because the number of finalists from the same nation is limited to two. Thus, five gymnasts ranked ahead of her were ineligible. For the same reason, Koko Tsurumi appeared in the balance beam apparatus final.

Rhythmic

Japan have qualified a rhythmic gymnastics group.

Trampoline

Judo

;Men
;Women

Modern pentathlon

Rowing

;Men
;Women
Qualification Legend: FA=Final A ; FB=Final B ; FC=Final C ; FD=Final D ; FE=Final E ; FF=Final F ; SA/B=Semifinals A/B; SC/D=Semifinals C/D; SE/F=Semifinals E/F; QF=Quarterfinals; R=Repechage

Sailing

;Men
;Women
;Open
M = Medal race; EL = Eliminated – did not advance into the medal race; CAN = Race cancelled;

Shooting

;Men
;Women

Softball

Team roster
Preliminary round










Group table
TeamWLRSRAWIN%GBTiebreaker
705311.000--
612313.8571-
523011.7142-
341723.4294-
251023.28652-0 vs. CHN/VEN
251921.28651-1 vs. TPE/VEN
251535.28650-2 vs. CHN/TPE
16848.1436-

Semifinal
Bronze medal game
The winner of this game advanced to the final while the loser won bronze.
Final
Final rank:

Swimming

;Men
;Women
* Competed in heats only; WSO - Win swim-off; LSO - Lost swim-off

Synchronized swimming

Table tennis

;Men's singles
;Women's singles
;Team

Taekwondo

Tennis

Triathlon

AthleteEventSwim Trans 1Bike Trans 2Run Total TimeRank
Hirokatsu TayamaMen's18:040:3059:120:2937:581:56:13.6848
Ryosuke YamamotoMen's18:270:2658:530:2933:561:52:11.9830
Juri IdeWomen's19:500:291:04:240:3535:052:00:23.775
Kiyomi NiwataWomen's19:560:341:04:140:3135:362:00:51.859
Ai UedaWomen's20:170:291:03:560:2837:092:02:19.0917

Volleyball

Beach

Indoor

Japan qualified teams in both the men's and women's tournaments. The men's team lost all five matches in the group play, finishing last in their group, and failing to qualify for the final round. The men's final ranking was tied for 11th place. The women's team won two of the matches in the group play, and advanced to the quarterfinals, where they lost to Brazil. The women's final ranking was tied for 5th place.

Men's tournament

;Roster
;Group play

Women's tournament

;Roster
;Group play
;Quarterfinal

Weightlifting

Wrestling

Japan has qualified in the following quota places.
;Men's freestyle
;Men's Greco-Roman
;Women's freestyle