None of the Cats that seem to take it too seriously. That they will meet none other than the organizing country with Japan in the quarterfinals. But watch out. The numbers prove: even without an audience, Japan benefits from the home advantage at these Games.
It’s the eternal question. Why do teams and athletes perform better if they can complete their matches in their own country? Is that purely down to the home crowd? Now that almost every game at these Games is contested without an audience due to corona, we already receive a partial answer. As it turns out: even without an audience, the home advantage is no less great than at other Games. Just as Brazil (2016), Great Britain (2012), China (2008), Greece (2004) and Australia (2000) took noticeably more medals than usual when they hosted the Games, Japan is doing the same in Tokyo. remarkably good. Yesterday afternoon, the country was in third place in the medal standings with 34 medals, including 8 golds. Only China and the US do better. Japan is thus already approaching the 41 medals it won in Rio after sixteen days and is even better than the 7 gold medals in London in 2012. In both cases, Japan failed to make the top five of the medal standings. to finish – sixth in Rio, only eleventh in London.
How is that possible? In Japan itself, they look for the reason in a ‘feeling at home’. “Even without an audience, we can play our game in accommodations that are familiar to us,” said the Japanese delegation leader earlier this week. “And we know that the people outside those stadiums support us, even if they are not allowed to be there. That makes a difference.”
In judo, among other things, it led to a cartload of medals – no less than nine times gold. But surprisingly good results were also achieved in skateboarding, gymnastics and table tennis. In other sports, such as badminton and swimming, the country failed again. “Perhaps due to the pressure of the Games in our own country,” said an obligatory Japanese delegation leader.
The question is whether the Japanese basketball team can also enjoy this home advantage. The Saitama Super Arena is not always the home of the Japanese basketball team. So it’s okay with the ‘familiarity’. And another boost for the Cats: in the traditional team sports, Japan is doing no better than usual at these Games. In softball the Japanese women took gold and in baseball Japan is among the men in the semifinals, but otherwise the balance is poor. The country had a team in both men and women in 3×3 basket, handball, hockey, water polo and volleyball. Everywhere they went out at the latest in the quarterfinals. Which also happened in men’s basketball and women’s football. Only in men’s football is Japan still in the semifinals.
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