Japan Projected to Finish Sixth in Paris Olympics Medal Table

US company Gracenote, which analyzes sporting data, has predicted that Japan will win 47 medals at the Paris Olympics: 13 gold, 13 silver, and 21 bronze. This is 11 fewer than at Tokyo 2020.

Gracenote forecasts that the United States will top the medal table with a total of 112 (39 gold, 32 silver, and 41 bronze), ahead of China with 86 and Britain with 63. Japan is projected to finish sixth in the table. At Tokyo 2020, it achieved its greatest ever medal haul of 58—27 gold, 14 silver, and 17 bronze—but in Paris, it is predicted to win less than half as many gold medals. Meanwhile, the host country France is forecast to win almost three times as many gold medals as at Tokyo.

The Olympics will feature equal numbers of male and female athletes for the first time in Paris this year. The inaugural modern games in Athens in 1896 were male-only, with 241 men from 14 countries competing. Women competed for the first time in Paris in 1900, and it has taken more than 120 years to achieve parity.

Japan’s roster of 409 athletes consists of 218 men and 191 women.

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © Firas Abdullah/ABACA via Reuters Connect.)