Boys and girls in Japan had lower athletic skills in 2019 than their counterparts in 1964, when the previous Tokyo Olympics were held. This was found in an annual government survey on Sunday.
According to the Japan Sports Agency’s 2019 fiscal year survey, boys and girls were taller and heavier in 2019 than their counterparts in 1964.
The most recent survey, which was attended by 62,000 people aged 6 to 79, compared boys and girls in 2019 and 1964 ahead of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, which were rescheduled for the summer of 2021.
Boys and girls aged 10 to 19 were taller and heavier in all age groups in 2019 than their counterparts in 1964. Boys aged 12 and 13 were 9 centimeters taller and 7 kilograms heavier.
In tests to measure gripping force, boys and girls aged 15 to 19 had lower scores in 2019. The 2019 group between 10-19 years of age did worse than their peers’ average scores between 1964 and 1968 across all age groups for measuring how far you can throw a ball.
Meanwhile, boys and girls aged 12 and 19 ran faster in the 50-meter sprint in 2019.
Boys and girls are better built than their counterparts in the past, said Hisashi Naito, a professor of movement physiology at Juntendo University.
“But I think they have no experience of physical activity and haven’t learned enough how to move their bodies,” said Naito, who supported work related to the survey.
PHOTO GALLERY (CLICK TO ENLARGE)
.
