JAPAN

Success Profile - Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games Summary

Table 1: Medal Ranking and Number of Medals (1996-2012)

OlympicGames / 1996 / 2000 / 2004 / 2008 / 2012
Gold Medal Rank / 23rd / 15th / 5th / 8th / 11th
Medals / Gold–3
Silver–6
Bronze–5
Total - 14 / Gold–5
Silver–8
Bronze–5
Total - 18 / Gold–16
Silver–9
Bronze–12
Total - 37 / Gold–6
Silver–6
Bronze–10
Total - 25 / Gold–7
Silver–14
Bronze–7
Total - 38
No. of Sports / 7 / 7 / 11 / 9 / 13
ParalympicGames / 1996 / 2000 / 2004 / 2008 / 2012
Gold Medal Rank / 10th / 12th / 10th / 17th / 24th
Medals / Gold–14
Silver–10
Bronze–13
Total - 37 / Gold–13
Silver–17
Bronze–11
Total - 41 / Gold–17
Silver–15
Bronze–20
Total - 52 / Gold–5
Silver–14
Bronze–8
Total - 27 / Gold–5
Silver–5
Bronze–6
Total - 16
No. of Sports / 6 / 7 / 7 / 6 / 6

Table 2: Successful Profile of Targeted Sports - Summer Olympic/Paralympic Games (1996-2012)

Olympic Games / 1996 / 2000 / 2004 / 2008 / 2012
Archery / - / - / 0 - 1 - 0 = 1 / - / 0 - 1 - 1 = 2
Athletics / 0 - 0 - 1 = 1 / 1 - 0 - 0 = 1 / 2 - 0 - 0 = 2 / 0 - 0 - 1 = 1 / 0 - 0 - 1 = 1
Gymnastics / - / - / 1 - 1 - 2 = 4 / 0 - 2 - 0 = 2 / 1 - 2 - 0 = 3
Judo / 3 - 4 - 1 = 8 / 4 - 2 - 2 = 8 / 8 -2 - 0 = 10 / 4 - 1 - 2 = 7 / 1 - 3 - 3 = 7
Swimming / 0 - 2 - 2 = 4 / 3 - 1 - 4 = 8 / 2 - 0 - 3 = 5 / 0 - 3 - 8 = 11
Synchro Swimming / 0 - 0 - 1 = 1 / 0 - 2 - 0 = 2 / 0 - 2 - 0 = 2 / 0 - 0 - 1 = 1 / -
Wrestling / 0 - 0 - 1 = 1 / 0 - 1 - 0 = 1 / 2 - 1 - 3 = 6 / 2 - 2 -2 = 6 / 4 - 0 - 2 = 6
Paralympic Games / 1996 / 2000 / 2004 / 2008 / 2012
Athletics / 5 - 5 - 2 = 12 / 2 - 10 - 5 = 17 / 7 - 4 - 7 = 18 / 2 - 7 - 3 = 12 / 0 - 3 - 1 = 4
Cycling / 1 - 0 - 2 = 3 / 1- 1 - 0 = 2 / 0 - 1 - 1 = 2 / 1 - 3 - 2 = 6 / 0 - 0 - 1 = 1
Judo / 2 - 1 -1 = 4 / 1 - 0 - 2 = 3 / 1 - 2 - 1 = 4 / 0 - 1 - 0 = 1 / 1 - 0 - 0 = 1
Swimming / 5 - 3 - 4 = 12 / 9 - 5 - 1 = 15 / 8 - 6 - 9 = 23 / 1 - 2 - 2 = 5 / 2 - 2 - 4 = 8
Wheelchair Tennis / - / - / 1- 0 - 0 = 1 / 1 - 0 - 1 = 2 / 1 - 0 - 0 = 1

High Performance System Summary

Overview /
  • Sport in Japan is largely state sponsored and to some extent institutionalised.
  • Exposure to a broad range of sports is given a high priority in Japanese schools (free after-school sport is available to all students in middle and high schools).
  • Major professional and culturally iconic sports such as baseball, softball, football, sumo andmartial arts are less dependent on government funding.
  • The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology is the central government body responsible for sport in Japan.
  • The Ministry appropriates funding to sports through its lead portfolio agency for sport, theJapan Sports Council (JSC).
  • The private/corporate sector in Japan plays a key role in supporting and sponsoring sports teams and elite athletes.

Leading High Performance Agencies /
  • Japan Sports Council (JSC) – the leading government portfolio agency responsible for managing the implementation of sport policy programs, and appropriating public funds to national sporting federations (NFs) and other high performance agencies.
  • Japan Institute of Sport Sciences (JISS) – the peak sports science, medicine, and information research provider to NFs.
  • National Training Centre (NTC) – the principal and centralised national training centreresponsible for coordinating and facilitatingthe daily training environment (DTE). The NTC is physically located adjacent to the JISS complex.
  • Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) – National Olympic Committee.
  • Japanese Paralympic Committee (JPC) – National Paralympic Committee.

Performance Targets /
  • The JSC aimsfor Japan to finish as the 5th ranked competing nationor higher on the official Rio 2016Gold medal tally.
  • Targets for the 2016 Paralympic Games are not available.

High Performance Investment Profile /
  • ¥ 14.8 billion (A$155m)–2013-14
  • Athlete financial assistance ¥PY 1.0billion (A$10.4m)
  • Training camp assistance ¥395 million (A$4.1m)
  • Talent identification and development ¥1.1 billion (A$11.3m)
  • NF activities ¥2.9 billion (A$30.3m)
  • Local government activities ¥609 million (A$6.4m)
  • JOC activities ¥ 2.6b (A$27.3m)
  • Hosting National Competitions ¥305 million (A$3.1m)
  • Hosting International Competition ¥381 million (A$4.0m)
  • Researches on Paralympic Sports Development ¥ 22.4m ($A0.2m)
  • Multi-Support Projects ¥2.8 billion (A$29.4m)
  • NTC Project Management ¥658,5m (A$6.9m)
  • Sport Youth Athlete Development Project - ¥ 1.4b (A$14.7m)
  • Athlete and coach competition assistance ¥640 million (A$6.4m)
  • Other high performance funding sources yet to be clarified include corporate/private sector investment and donations.
  • The total Federal Governmentannual appropriation for the implementation of the‘Strategy for Sports Nation’ (2014/15) was¥25.5billion (A$268.6m).
  • JSC is responsible for providing assistance to sports through two primary financial resources - the ‘Sports Promotion Fund’ (¥1.3 billion/A$14.2m) and the ‘Sports Promotion Lottery’ (¥17.3 billion/A$183m) known as “toto” and “BIG”. A third funding stream includes corporate/private sector funding.

Operating Approach /
  • Investment is targeted - the JSC provides funding to national sporting federations (NFs) - priority sports include Archery, Athletics, Gymnastics, Judo, Swimming, Synchronised Swimming, and Wrestling.
  • The investment model appears to be transitioning to a more performance based accountability approach – particularly for Olympic sports.
  • The JSC funds the JOC, JISS, NTC, and a further network of 21 smaller sports training centres across the country including two altitude training facilities.
  • Over the past decade Japan has invested strongly in developing a high performance sports precinct in the Kita-Ku region of Tokyo. This integrated daily training environment (DTE) includes the JISS, JOC, NTC, a covered athletics track, and athlete residences.
  • The NTC houses the main administration functions of many NFs.
  • NFs purchase DTE services with their allocated funding. NFs are permitted to purchase services from private sector or government/JSC sponsored providers.
  • Japan continues to foster an integrated high performance sport service provider network. ‘Team Nippon’ is a multi-support project established in 2012 to improve cooperation between universities, research institutions, and the private sector. The collaboration is focussed on improving sport science and medicine practice, sports equipment and technology applications development, and coaching, training and athlete conditioning methodology.
  • Japan is presently preparing to host of the 2020 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Athlete Financial Assistance /
  • The direct athlete assistance budget in 2014 was ¥1.0billion ($10.5m AUD)
  • Approximately 650 elite athletes in 2012-13 received JSC financialassistance in accordance with advicereceived from the JOC and NFs, based on a performance merit system.
  • Publicly available figures (2006) indicate three categories of direct financial support: A- ¥200,000/month ($2,130 AUD), B - ¥100,000/month ($1,065 AUD), C- ¥50,000/month ($530 AUD).
  • The private sector also plays a key role in supporting (and employing) podium potential athletes – for example, basketball and volleyball national team members are salaried by their corporate company sponsors.

System Strengths /
  • A highly coordinated and integrated DTE network employing leading national and international coaches, sports practitioners, and other world leading specialists.
  • Ongoing public and private sector investment in sport research and innovative approaches to improve athletic performance (i.e. ‘Team Nippon’)
  • Strong Government and community support for high performance sport during preparations and the build-up toward Tokyo 2020.
  • A targeted approach to high performance sports funding.
  • A strong foundation in multi-medal combat and other technical sports.
  • A well organised school sport system, providing a sound base for junior athlete development.

System Weaknesses /
  • Government funding pressures due to post tsunami disaster reconstruction efforts.
  • Local competitionbetween Olympic/Paralympic sports and non-Olympic professional codes for lucrative private sector investment.
  • Language is often a barrier when attempting to recruit external expertise or accessing current sports and scientific literature on leading practice.

Relevance to Australian Environment /
  1. The Federal Government coordinates and funds the high performance sport system. Government funding is supplemented with income from national lottery earnings and corporate sector support.
  1. The JSC, through the NTC and JISS, leads and coordinates a national and highly integrated DTE network with strong ongoing investment in world class facilities and hi-tech infrastructure.
  1. The wider high performance service provider network consists of government agencies, universities,and private sector businesses.
  1. The JSC recruits a targeted approach to high performance sports investment (a high profile example of this approach resulted inmulti-medal success with the inaugural appearance of women’s judo at the 2004 Athens Games).
  1. Athlete financial assistance is administered by the JSC and JOC, and is allocated on a merit basis.
  1. There is a high level of investment in sports sciences and research with the JISS as the dedicated agency directing this effort.
  1. There is a very strong and institutionalised school sport system at the grassroots levels.
  1. Japan shares a similar time zone (2 or 3 hours behind Australia)
  1. Tokyo will be hosting the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games

Further information –

10/07/2014