SYDNEY -- The first day of competition may be crucial to Japan's prospects at the Sydney Olympics. Japan has three gold medal prospects competing Saturday: judoka Ryoko Tamura and Tadahiro Nomura, and swimmer Yasuko Tajima.

"The first day is very important," said Japan Olympic Committee executive board member Tsunekazu Takeda on Thursday.

"Remember at the last Olympics in Nagano, Hiroyasu Shimizu took gold in speedskating and gave so much power to the other athletes."

Japan won five gold medals at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, its best ever showing in the Winter Games.

Japan got the Games off to a good start on Thursday when its soccer team beat South Africa 2-1.

Takeda argued that a bad start for Japan would not impact on athletes competing later in the Games. But other Japanese sports officials fear that failures will spread to the rest of the team.

"If our first medal candidates lose their chance (to win), there will be a bad atmosphere, like a flu," said one official in Sydney who preferred not to be named.

At the Seoul Olympics in 1988, Japan had many gold medal hopes in judo. But on the first day in the men's extra-lightweight class, Shinji Hosokawa was beaten for gold in a shock upset.

"After that, class by class, athletes lost and only on the final day of the judo competition, Hitoshi Saito won a medal (in the open class)," the official added.

After Japan's dismal performance four years later in Atlanta, Japanese sports officials declared that Japan's athletes needed strength of character to withstand Olympic pressure and "marshal their skills and strength achieved in training."

In short, they had to stop choking.

Takeda said individual training and mental training in the leadup to the Sydney Games had short-circuited the group psychology that marks Japan's society and, apparently, its athletes.

"Now everybody has a belief in themselves," he said. "If somebody loses a medal, somebody else will cover for them."

But old habits die hard. JOC President Yushiro Yagi regressed as the Japanese team arrived in Sydney with the comment that "hopefully, we'll get off to a good start just like we did in Nagano."

That job falls first to Yasuko Tajima, expected to race for gold in the 400 individual medley relay Saturday night. Ranked first this year with a time of 4.39.13, she said Wednesday that she believed winning gold was the best way to get the entire team going, but dismissed suggestions that she was under pressure.

"Not at all," she stated. "I've never felt that I have to do my best because I'm first up, because it is an individual race and I just have to think about myself."

Tajima is expected to vie for gold with European and world short-course champion Yana Klochkova of Ukraine, ranked second with a time of 4:39.78, and two-time European silver medalist Beatrice Caslaru of Romania.

Hours later, it will be the turn of Tamura, who has won the last four World Championships in the 48 kg class, but has not won Olympic gold. The popular "Yawarachan" took silver in both the Barcelona and Atlanta Olympics.

Dogged by leg injuries in the runup to the Olympics, she faces tough competition from World Championship silver medalist Amarilis Carmenaty of Cuba.

Nomura is the last chance of the night in the men's under-60 kg class. To win gold, the defending Olympic champion and 1997 world champion must overcome 1999 world champ Manolo Poulot of Cuba and World Championship bronze medalist Natik Bagirov of Belarus.