Japan competed at the 1968 Summer Paralympics in Tel Aviv, Israel from November 4 to 13, 1968.[1] The team finished sixteenth of the twenty-eight competing nations in the medal table and won a total of twelve medals; two gold, two silver and eight bronze.[2] Forty-eight Japanese athletes took part in the Games; forty-one men and seven women.[3][n 1]
Disability classifications
The Paralympics groups athletes' disabilities into one of five disability categories; amputation, the condition may be congenital or sustained through injury or illness; cerebral palsy; wheelchair athletes, there is often overlap between this and other categories; visual impairment, including blindness; Les autres, any physical disability that does not fall strictly under one of the other categories, for example dwarfism or multiple sclerosis.[4][5] Each Paralympic sport then has its own classifications, dependent on the specific physical demands of competition. Events are given a code, made of numbers and letters, describing the type of event and classification of the athletes competing.[6]
Eight of Japan's medals were won in athletics events. All three medals in the men's slalom C were won by Japanese athletes; Furukawa won gold, Erkawa won silver and the bronze went to Tsuchiya.[7] Bronze medals were also won by Sakonju, in both the men's A slalom and novices 60 m wheelchair dash A, Suga in the men's B slalom and Miyazawa in the men's 100 m wheelchair C race. The only athletics medal won by a Japanese woman at the Games was a silver for Apai in the women's C slalom.[8]
The only dartchery event at the Games was the mixed pairs event which had a knockout tournament format. Japan was represented by Tanaka and T. Matsumoto; the pair beat athletes from Canada, Belgium and Switzerland to set up a semi-final meeting with Geissinger and Kelderhouse of the United States. The Americans won the match and went on to win the gold medal, Tanaka and Matsumoto were awarded bronze medals.[9]
Six members of the Japanese delegation competed in swimming events and two won medals.[10] Koyachi won the gold medal in the men's 50 metres freestyle class 4 incomplete, beating his nearest rival in the final by 2.4 seconds.[11] In the men's 50 m freestyle class 4 complete Japan's Arimura finished with the same time as silver medalist, Lewis of South Africa, but was awarded the bronze medal.[12]
Three men entered weightlifting events for Japan, all in the featherweight division.[10] Nagumo won the bronze medal with a lift of 110 kg, Mayazawa finished fifth and Kojima seventh with lifts of 107.5 kg and 100 kg respectively.[13]
^Data is taken from the International Paralympic Committee website and is based on information contained/sourced in the original hardcopy final results publications. Some information from earlier Paralympic Games (i.e. 1960 – 1984) is incomplete and is missing first names of some athletes
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