Japan Olympic chief seeks 2020 lift-off in Rio

“If you analyse the world rankings, it looks a tough ask but Japanese athletes have an indefatigable spirit. What they lack in size they make up for with extraordinary mental toughness

nonsense - this is how they like to think of themselves though.

Try not to pinch any cameras this year guys!

Seiko Hashimoto

“We want to be third in the medals table in 2020 and that process starts in Rio.”

you're dreaming. You finish miles behind Australia every Olympics. Unless you can bribe the IOC judges as well as you did the delegates in Argentina you have no hope in hell of coming third.

“If you analyse the world rankings, it looks a tough ask but Japanese athletes have an indefatigable spirit. What they lack in size they make up for with extraordinary mental toughness.”

Yeah right. Japan as usual is aiming too high, and will be disappointed. It seems setting realistic targets is an unrealistic proposition. How about this? "We'll do our very best".

Here we go again with the entitlement and the "superior spirit" crap. Ready the speeches on why they got nowhere close to the expected medal haul.

I really wish media pundits and executives would stop setting medal "targets", particularly ones that are wildly above past performances, for these over-stressed athletes. It's one thing for an athlete to boast that he "thrives on pressure"; it's quite another to say it about someone else.

Hearing this kind of talk makes me miss the empty pronouncements of "we'll do our best, but so will our opponents" and "on any given day, anything can happen" that you typically hear from seasoned veterans. They well know the pitfalls of over-promising. I too would love to see Japanese athletes get a lot of medals, but it's like they won't even be able to enjoy it because of all the pressure the media puts on them.

"What they lack in size they make up for with extraordinary mental toughness.”

J athletes are no different to others, they occasionally choke under pressure. Re lack of size, quite a few olympic sports have weight categories (boxing, weightlifting etc) so no excuse there. Other sports like gymnastics, diving or synchronized swimming are suited to Asian body type so again the 'but we are smaller' excuse isnt valid. Good luck to Japan though.

@ Christopher Glen,

I like and agree with you post. A family who come to my place mom dad and 2 boys who both play baseball. The dad always says to the kids before a match, "No1 or DIE" always freaks me out.

“If you analyse the world rankings, it looks a tough ask but Japanese athletes have an indefatigable spirit. What they lack in size they make up for with extraordinary mental toughness.”

Yeah, damn right. No other country has athletes with indefatigable spirit or mental toughness. Other athletes just can't gaman or gambaru.

And, as one Japanese politician (who luckily is so old he can't make many public appearances) said, foreigners act like beasts when playing judo.

Since 1998, Seoul, I think Japan has only out-performed South Korea once (2004 Athens). I wonder whether South Korea are making similar projections or whether they'll just let their actions in Rio do the speaking.

Since 1998, Seoul, I think Japan has only out-performed South Korea once (2004 Athens).

Interesting that you are always so keen on comparing Japan with S.korea. Anyway, for the last 3 (summer) Olympic games Japan and S.korea have been good rivals, with Japan getting 100 medals to S.korea's 89. I hope both countries will perform to the best of their abilities and hopefully bring home some medals.

Pukey2: "I wonder whether South Korea are making similar projections or whether they'll just let their actions in Rio do the speaking"

I don't know about this time around, but in the past they have in some cases been guilty of making projections (not quite as lofty) of medals. The key difference, though, is that they get or surpass them. Japan always ends up holding press conferences as to why not only they could not get even close to their expectations, but were exponentially beaten by SK (especially in winter Olympics).

I wish they would just say they'll do their best and that's that. The whole entitlement thing or, as has been said in the past, "South Korea got this many last time, so we should be able to beat it", is not only tired, it's embarrassing when they end up losing and/or not making their predictions.

A good team should be magnanimous in victory and gracious in defeat. Mind you, team GB is guilty of setting medal targets as well, so is Australia. The difference is that if these targets are not met, there are no recriminations towards the athletes whatsoever. Japan's target of third place in 2020 for example, is completely unrealistic. Top ten perhaps.