Japan at the 1952 Summer Olympics

Japan at the
1952 Summer Olympics
Japan at the; 1952 Summer Olympics
IOC code	JPN
NOC	Japanese Olympic Committee
Website	www.joc.or.jp (in Japanese and English)
in Helsinki
Competitors	69 in 11 sports
Flag bearer	Bunkichi Sawada
Medals ; Ranked 17th	Gold1Silver6Bronze2Total9
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
	1912 ; 1920 ; 1924 ; 1928 ; 1932 ; 1936 ; 1948; 1952 ; 1956 ; 1960 ; 1964 ; 1968 ; 1972 ; 1976 ; 1980; 1984 ; 1988 ; 1992 ; 1996 ; 2000 ; 2004 ; 2008 ; 2012 ; 2016 ; 2020 ; 2024 ;

Last updated August 17, 2025

Japan competed at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. Japan returned to the Olympic Games after not being invited to the 1948 Summer Olympics because of the nations's role in World War II. 69 competitors, 58 men and 11 women, took part in 60 events in 13 sports.^[1]

Medalists

Medal	Name	Sport	Event	Date
Gold	Shohachi Ishii	Wrestling	Men's freestyle bantamweight	July 23
Silver	Tadao Uesako	Gymnastics	Men's floor	July 21
Silver	Masao Takemoto	Gymnastics	Men's vault	July 21
Silver	Yushu Kitano	Wrestling	Men's freestyle flyweight	July 23
Silver	Hiroshi Suzuki	Swimming	Men's 100 m freestyle	July 27
Silver	Toru Goto Yoshihiro Hamaguchi Hiroshi Suzuki Teijiro Tanikawa	Swimming	Men's 4 × 200 m freestyle relay	July 29
Silver	Shiro Hashizume	Swimming	Men's 1500 m freestyle	August 2
Bronze	Takashi Ono	Gymnastics	Men's vault	July 21
Bronze	Tadao Uesako	Gymnastics	Men's vault	July 21

Medals by sport
Sport				Total
Wrestling	1	1	0	2
Swimming	0	3	0	3
Gymnastics	0	2	2	4
Total	1	6	2	9

Athletics

Boxing

Cycling

Road Competition

Men's Individual Road Race (190.4 km)

Kihei Tomioka — did not finish (→ no ranking)
Masazumi Tajima — did not finish (→ no ranking)
Tadashi Kato — did not finish (→ no ranking)
Tamotsu Chikanari — did not finish (→ no ranking)

Track Competition

Men's 1.000m Time Trial

Tadashi Kato

Final — 1:23.2 (→ 26th place)

Men's 1.000m Sprint Scratch Race

Kihei Tomioka — 23rd place

Diving

Men

Athlete	Event	Preliminary		Final
Athlete	Event	Points	Rank	Points	Rank
Katsuichi Mori	3 m springboard	65.23	15	Did not advance
Katsuichi Mori	10 m platform	58.65	29	Did not advance

Women

Athlete	Event	Preliminary		Final
Athlete	Event	Points	Rank	Points	Rank
Masami Miyamoto	3 m springboard	46.88	15	Did not advance
Masami Miyamoto	10 m platform	36.24	11	Did not advance

Equestrian

Fencing

One fencer, Shinichi Maki, represented Japan in 1952.

Men's foil

Shinichi Maki

Men's épée

Shinichi Maki

Men's sabre

Shinichi Maki

Gymnastics

Rowing

Japan had five male rowers participate in one out of seven rowing events in 1952.^[2]

Men's coxed four

Sailing

Shooting

One shooter represented Japan in 1952.

Men

Athlete	Event	Final
Athlete	Event	Score	Rank
Yukio Inokuma	Men's 50 metre rifle prone	396	17

Swimming

Men

Ranks given are within the heat.

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Swim-off		Final
Athlete	Event	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Toru Goto	100 m freestyle	58.3	1 Q	58.3	3 QSO	58.5	1 Q	58.5	4
Yoshihiro Hamaguchi		58.0	1 Q	58.3	=3 QSO	59.1	3	Did not advance
Hiroshi Suzuki		58.0	2 Q	58.0	2 Q	—		57.4
Hironoshin Furuhashi	400 m freestyle	4:43.3	1 Q	4:44.2	3 Q	—		4:42.1	8
Yasuo Tanaka		4:44.3	2 Q	4:44.9	2	—		Did not advance
Yoshio Tanaka		4:54.0	3 Q	4:48.0	7	—		Did not advance
Yukiyoshi Aoki	1500 m freestyle	19:27.0	3	—				Did not advance
Shiro Hashizume		18:34.0 OR	1 Q	—				18:41.4
Yasuo Kitamura		19:10.3	3 Q	—				19:00.4	6
Norihiko Kurahashi	100 m backstroke	1:10.7	5	Did not advance		—		Did not advance
Yasumasu Nishino	100 m backstroke	1:10.1	2	Did not advance		—		Did not advance
Nobuyasu Hirayama	200 m breaststroke	2:41.5	3 Q	2:39.1	3 Q	—		2:37.4	4
Takayoshi Kajikawa		2:39.6	3 Q	2:37.3	2 Q	—		2:38.6	5
Jiro Nagasawa		2:40.4	2 Q	2:39.0	4 Q	—		2:39.1	6
Hiroshi Suzuki Yoshihiro Hamaguchi Toru Goto Teijiro Tanikawa	4 × 200 m freestyle	8:42.1	1 Q	—				8:33.5

Women