Japan was the host nation for the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo. It was the first time that Japan had hosted the Winter Olympic Games, but second time overall after the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. It was also the first Winter Olympic Games held in Asia. The host nation sent 90 athletes, consisting of 70 men and 20 women, along with 20 officers. The flag bearer for the Japanese team, Mineyuki Mashiko did not participate in the game, but instead held the position of team manager.
Three Japanese ski jumpers swept the medals in the normal hill event, becoming national heroes. This achievement also made Yukio Kasaya the first gold medalist for Japan at the Winter Olympic Games. He was also the first ever Asian to win a Winter Olympic gold medal.
Medalists
| width=78% align=left valign=top | Medal Name Sport Event Date Yukio Kasaya Ski jumping Men's normal hill February 6 Akitsugu Konno Ski jumping Men's normal hill February 6 Seiji Aochi Ski jumping Men's normal hill February 6
| width=22% align=left valign=top | Medals by sportSport TotalSki jumping 1 1 13 Total 1 1 1 3
Alpine skiing
Men
AthleteEventRace 1Race 2TotalTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankMasahiko OtsueDownhill1:59.5535Sumihiro Tomii1:55.3422Masayoshi KashiwagiGiant SlalomDSQ–––DSQ–Masahiko Otsue1:38.7134DSQ–DSQ–Haruhisa Chiba1:36.36261:40.87203:17.2319Masami Ichimura1:35.77221:39.57123:15.3415
Men's slalom
AthleteClassificationFinalTimeRankTime 1RankTime 2RankTotalRankHaruhisa Chiba1:43.1711:01.2529DNF–DNF–Toshimasa Furukawa1:46.333?25DSQ–DSQ–Masayoshi KashiwagiDNF–1:00.192456.42171:56.6118Masami Ichimura1:42.90157.581357.25181:54.8317
Women
AthleteEventRace 1Race 2TotalTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankEmiko OkazakiDownhill1:48.8541Harue Okitsu1:45.3740Miyuki Katagiri1:44.1035Mitsuyo Nagumo1:43.0732Mitsuyo NagumoGiant SlalomDSQ–Emiko Okazaki1:40.3732Miyuki Katagiri1:39.1130Harue Okitsu1:35.3322Miyuki KatagiriSlalomDNF–––DNF–Mitsuyo NagumoDNF–––DNF–Harue Okitsu50.551950.12161:40.6716Emiko Okazaki50.061849.47141:39.5313
Biathlon
Men EventAthleteTimePenaltiesAdjusted time 1Rank20 kmKazuo Sasakubo1'19:07.4391'28:07.4338Isao Ono1'16:26.8371'23:26.8325Shozo Sasaki1'18:05.5451'23:05.5423Miki Shibuya1'16:57.2751'21:57.2717
1 One minute added per close miss (a hit in the outer ring), two minutes added per complete miss.
Men's 4 x 7.5 km relay AthletesRaceMisses 2TimeRankIsao OnoShozo SasakiMiki ShibuyaKazuo Sasakubo51'59:09.488
2 A penalty loop of 200 metres had to be skied per missed target.
Bobsleigh
SledAthletesEventRun 1Run 2Run 3Run 4TotalTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankJPN-1Susumu EsashikaKazumi AbeTwo-man1:18.13161:16.4361:15.17141:16.86185:06.5915JPN-2Akihiko SuzukiRikio SatoTwo-man1:18.98211:18.46211:15.63161:18.84215:11.9121
SledAthletesEventRun 1Run 2Run 3Run 4TotalTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankJPN-1Susumu EsashikaKazumi AbeRikio SatoYoshiyuki IchihashiFour-man1:11.5161:12.99151:11.42121:12.00134:47.9212JPN-2Toshihisa NagataHiroshi InabaKoichi SugawaraAkihiko SuzukiFour-man1:11.5161:12.9915DSQ–––DSQ–
Cross-country skiing
Men EventAthleteRaceTimeRank15 kmMotoharu Matsumura50:43.7651Akiyoshi Matsuoka49:50.7243Kunio Shibata49:38.9541Hideo Tanifuji49:06.973730 kmTomio Okamura1'47:50.2247Seiji Kudo1'47:00.4044Hideo Tanifuji1'45:37.1337Kunio Shibata1'42:30.832350 kmMotoharu MatsumuraDNF–Seiji Kudo2'57:42.6229
Men's 4 × 10 km relay AthletesRaceTimeRankHideo TanifujiKunio ShibataAkiyoshi MatsuokaTomio Okamura2'13:59.1410
Women EventAthleteRaceTimeRank5 kmAkiko Akasaka19:49.7443Harumi Imai19:05.7338Tokiko Ozeki19:00.8237Hiroko Takahashi18:32.753410 kmHideko Saito39:51.6138Harumi Imai39:33.1337Tokiko Ozeki38:07.2433Hiroko Takahashi36:53.8425
Women's 3 × 5 km relay AthletesRaceTimeRankTokiko OzekiHiroko TakahashiHideko Saito53:20.759
Figure skating
Men AthleteCFFSPointsPlacesRank Yutaka Higuchi16152309.714016
Women AthleteCFFSPointsPlacesRank Kazumi Yamashita10102449.99310
Pairs AthletesSPFSPointsPlacesRank Kotoe NagasawaHiroshi Nagakubo1616345.514416
Ice hockey
First round Winners (in bold) entered the Medal Round. Other teams played a consolation round for 7th-11th places.
Consolation round RankTeamPldWLTGFGAPts743102210684310161469421117165104022916211 Yugoslavia40319171 Japan 3-3 Switzerland Japan 3-2 Yugoslavia Japan 4-5 Norway Japan 7-6 West Germany
Contestants Toshimitsu Otsubo Tsutomu Hanzawa Minoru Misawa Hiroshi Hori Iwao Nakayama Takeshi Akiba Fumio Yamazaki Takashi Tsuburai Minoru Ito Teruyasu Honma Yasushio Tanaka Hideaki Kurokawa Takao Hikigi Koji Iwamoto Isao Kakihara Toru Okajima Yoshio Hoshino Osamu Wakabayashi Hideo Suzuki
Luge
Men AthleteRun 1Run 2Run 3Run 4TotalTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankMasatoshi Kobayashi55.303254.432553.001953.66273:36.3924Satoru Arai54.762655.073053.752553.73293:37.3126Masako Eguchi54.091553.371252.781853.57253:33.8118Kazuaki Ichikawa54.091554.212253.292253.40223:34.9920
(Men's) Doubles AthletesRun 1Run 2TotalTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankSatoru AraiMasatoshi Kobayashi44.73444.9071:29.634Masako EguchiKazuaki Ichikawa46.931946.63181:33.5618
Women AthleteRun 1Run 2Run 3Run 4TotalTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankMiyako Kawase47.932047.311946.721846.14183:08.1019Hiroko Shibuya46.661446.411345.89845.49123:04.4513Yuko Otaka45.21445.65545.39544.7353:00.985
Nordic combined
Events: normal hill ski jumping 15 km cross-country skiing
AthleteEventSki JumpingCross-countryTotalDistance 1Distance 2PointsRankTimePointsRankPointsRankNobutaka SasakiIndividual72.576.0190.3854:00.6169.64537359.94524Hideki Nakano82.081.0220.5155:41.2154.55539375.05513Yuji Katsuro74.578.0195.1651:10.9195.10018390.2005Kazuo Araya76.577.0199.7553:29.3174.34034374.04015
Ski jumping
AthleteEventJump 1Jump 2TotalDistancePointsDistancePointsPointsRankTakashi FujisawaNormal hill81.0117.868.090.0207.823Akitsugu Konno82.5120.279.0114.6234.8Seiji Aochi83.5123.377.5106.2229.5Yukio Kasaya84.0126.679.0117.6244.2Hiroshi ItagakiLarge hill90.096.084.087.1183.119Takashi Fujisawa95.5107.286.089.9197.114Akitsugu Konno98.0109.788.589.4199.112Yukio Kasaya106.0124.985.084.5209.47
Speed skating
Men EventAthleteRaceTimeRank500 mKeiichi Suzuki41.2819Norio Hirate41.0817Takayuki Hida40.6213Masaki Suzuki40.3581500 mKiyomi Ito2:11.9622Mutsuhiko Maeda2:11.09205000 mOsamu Naito7:56.9716Kiyomi Ito7:45.961310,000 mOsamu Naito15:52.9312Kiyomi Ito15:48.1710
Women EventAthleteRaceTimeRank500 mRyoko Onozawa46.7021Sachiko Saito45.3591000 mRyoko Onozawa1:36.9928Sachiko Saito1:35.1218Emiko Taguchi1:34.40151500 mKaname Ide2:28.3418Emiko Taguchi2:28.1917Satomi Koike2:25.16113000 mAkiko Aruga5:22.6018Kaname Ide5:17.3016Satomi Koike5:09.2112
References Official Olympic Reports International Olympic Committee results database Japan Olympic Committee database Olympic Winter Games 1972, full results by sports-reference.com