Japan is set to outperform all of its previous medal-winning efforts at the upcoming Tokyo Games, according to Olympic analyst Gracenote Sports, but the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the sporting calendar has made picking winners a tougher task than usual.
In its traditional medal table projection released 100 days before the games, the sports data firm says the Japanese team is tracking toward a top-four finish, behind only the United States, China and the Russian Olympic Committee, as Russia's doping ban-impacted team will be known.
Whether the host nation can meet the forecast of a 40% improvement over the Rio Olympics, or finish even higher up the medal table, depends on which Russian athletes will be permitted to compete, Gracenote says.