Having come a long way since taking part in its first Olympics more than 90 years ago, Japan will set out to claim its 100th gold medal at the summer Games in Athens this month. After the Sydney Games in 2000, Japan had won 98 gold, 97 silver and 103 bronze medals for a total of 298 summer Olympic medals.
With 301 medal events at the Aug. 13-29 Athens Games, winning a pair of golds seems all but certain. The question is who will claim the prize.
Japan has a chance to reach the milestone as early as Aug. 14, the first day of full competition, when judoka Tadahiro Nomura goes for his third consecutive Olympic victory in the men's 60-kg class and Ryoko Tani tries to defend the women's 48-kg judo title.