Japanese athletes are expected to figure in a rush on gold medals at the 2004 Olympics Games in Athens, on the strength of their showing in world championships in swimming, track and field, gymnastics and women's wrestling.
Japan's national baseball team, led by Shigeo Nagashima, came out on top in the Asian preliminary games in the pursuit of a gold medal in the upcoming Olympiad. The women's softball team, which won a silver medal at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, aims for a gold at Athens.
It may not be just a dream for Japan to bag a double-digit number of gold medals for the first time since the 1984 Los Angeles games, when it won 10.