Hosting the Olympics has its perks. Japan is making the most of its home advantage in this year's Summer Games as the hosts continue to rack up gold medals at a blistering pace here in the Tokyo Olympics.
Through the first five days of the Tokyo Olympics, Japanese athletes have won a total of 13 gold medals. They have exceeded expectations, even topping the Olympic leaderboard the past few days ahead of pre-tournament favorites Team USA and the People's Republic of China.
Judokas and Yui Ohashi bring glory to Japan
So what is fueling this sudden gold rush of Japan? The bulk of Japan's gold medals has come from judo which comes as no surprise given that the sport was created in this nation. As of this writing, the Japanese have won a total of eight medals in this event, six of which are gold medals.
Naohisa Takato got the party started when he won Japan's first gold at the Tokyo Olympics in the men's 60-kilogram category on Saturday, defeating Chinese Taipei athlete Yang Yung-wei in the final. The following day, it was the Abe siblings who took center stage for Japan.
Uta Abe captured the gold in the women's 52-kilogram category, becoming the first Japanese gold medalist in that division and its youngest Olympic champion after beating France's Amandine Buchard.
It was her brother's turn to win the gold just minutes later as Hifumi Abe defeated Georgia's Vazha Margvelashvili in the final of the men's 66-kilogram division. Uta and Hifumi made history as they became the first siblings to win Olympic gold medals on the same day.
Japanese judokas continued to dominate at the historic Nippon Budokan, with Shohei Ono reigning supreme in the men's 73-kilogram category, Takanori Nagase capturing gold in the men's 81-kilogram division, and Chizuru Arai winning gold in the women's 70-kilogram division.
Tokyo Aquatics Centre also played host to a pair of Japanese victories with Yui Ohashi winning gold medals in the women's 200-meter and 400-meter individual medley in the sport of swimming. Ohashi's exploits made her the first Japanese athlete in the Tokyo Olympics to win two gold medals.
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Skateboarding, softball, table tennis, and gymnastics contribute golds
Japanese athletes also flourished in the sport of skateboarding which just made its debut in the Tokyo Olympics. Yuto Horigome won the first skateboarding gold in Olympic history in the men's street finals, while 13-year-old Momiji Nishiya clinched the Olympic gold medal in the women's street skateboarding competition.
Women's softball made a triumphant return in the Tokyo Olympics, with the Japanese retaining the gold medal they won in Beijing 13 years ago. Just like in the 2008 final, Japan defeated powerhouse Team USA in the gold medal match, with veteran starting pitcher Yukiko Ueno providing the inspiration for the 2-0 win.
Japan also made waves in table tennis with the pair of Jun Mizutani and Mima Ito winning gold in the mixed doubles event. They defeated Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen, 4-3, to end China's recent dominance in the sport.
Japan's 13th gold came in men's gymnastics, with Daiki Hashimoto winning the individual all-around gold. The Japanese are on pace to break their record of 16 Olympic gold medals set in the Rio Games five years ago.
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