PARIS: Japan can walk away from the Paris Games with their head held high after meeting their lofty goal of 20 gold medals and coming in third on the medals table, beyond their wildest dreams to match its ranking as hosts of the last Olympic Games.
The 20-medal haul was smack in line with what seemed like an optimistic target from Japan's national Olympic committee, with the country fielding a far fewer 409 athletes versus 552 in Tokyo three years ago.
Nielsen's Gracenote had forecast Japan to more than halve its titles to 13 and rank seventh; instead, it trailed only the United States and China and ahead of hosts France, which raked in 16 golds for a fifth-place finish behind Australia.
"We had the best result at an Olympics outside home soil," Deputy Chef De Mission Kosei Inoue said on Sunday, noting that medals were won in 10 new disciplines for Japan.
"We see this as a very big achievement."
Countries have been known to get a bump in medals after hosting an Olympics because of the big investments in sports that go into the home Games.
Britain and Brazil both managed that, improving their total medal hauls slightly after London 2012 and Rio 2016 - though not with gold medals.
Japan did not quite manage that level, ending with a combined 45 medals versus 58 in Tokyo - though chef de mission Mitsugi Ogata viewed the stellar performance at Tokyo 2020 as an aberration.
"I think there was an advantage for Japan as hosts in Tokyo during the pandemic, given that it was difficult (for outsiders) to even enter the country," he said.
Wrestling, judo, gymnastics and skateboarding all continued to deliver for Japan - though not necessarily by the favourites. While some surprises were for the worse, positive ones netted out the end result.
Golden moments stood out especially in fencing, where Japan clinched a historic win in the men's foil team event to spoil the party for hosts France, which had been hoping for a torrent of golds.
Ogata credited Team Japan's success in Paris to the government's continued investment in sport as well as initiatives such as an information exchange among national sports federations. He has singled out fencing as a prime example of the fruit of such efforts.
Looking ahead, analysis using information science would be needed for Japan to up its game, he said.
"We need to think about how to get to the podium if we rise to the best four, and to figure out how we can compete better in the final once we reach that stage," he said. --REUTERS