TOKYO (AP) — They've set up the elite academy, set in motion the Gold Plan and expect Kohei Uchimura to deliver three medals of that color in Rio de Janeiro next month, all part of the Japanese Olympic Committee's ambitious program leading into Tokyo 2020.
Japan is sending 331 athletes to Rio, the country's third-largest delegation at the Olympics after Tokyo in 1964 and Beijing in 2008, and has targeted 14 gold medals — double its tally from London four years ago.
Koji Murofushi, the 2004 Olympics hammer throw gold medalist who is now sports director for the 2020 Tokyo organizing committee, says Japan's performance in Rio will be vital in paving the way for success on home soil in the subsequent Summer Games.