Japan achieved its best-ever Olympic haul, exceeding all expectations, by claiming a record 37 medals at the 2004 Athens Games.
Olympians Kosei Inoue (left), Kyoko Hamaguchi (center) and Koji Murofushi pose before the
media on Sunday night at the Olympic Stadium in Athens.
And the end of the Greek saga Sunday could not have been scripted better as the nation matched its 16 gold medals from the 1964 Tokyo Olympics after men's hammer thrower Koji Murofushi was awarded gold on the final day after Hungarian winner Adrian Annus was stripped of the title for violating doping rules.
The haul in Athens enabled the Japan Olympic Committee to reach its 2001 "Gold Plan" target of doubling its share of Olympic medals from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics in 10 years far ahead of schedule, and to contemplate a new 10-year goal. Japan won 14 medals in Atlanta.