[Paris Olympics]The most popular sport was judo, which produced many memorable scenes | | ORICON NEWS

(From left) Hifumi Abe, Uta Abe (C) ORICON NewS inc.

The Paris Olympics had Japan in a frenzy of medals. Japan won a total of 45 medals, including 20 gold, 12 silver, and 13 bronze, taking third place behind the United States and China, and marking the highest number of medals ever won at an Olympic Games held overseas. Let’s take a look back at the level of satisfaction with this tournament and the sports that people paid attention to, based on a survey.

[Graph]The Paris Olympics produced many memorable scenes, the top 10 events that attracted the most attention

■ 62.6% of people responded that the Paris Olympics were “good” or “fairly good”

Oricon Monitor Research conducted an online survey of 1,000 men and women aged between 10 and 60. In response to the question, “What is your overall satisfaction with the Paris Olympics?”, 62.6% of people answered “It was good” (19.3%) or “It was pretty good” (43.3%), suggesting that the majority of people were satisfied with the Olympics.

The main comments from people who answered “It was good” were, “I had a lot of disappointments with the ball games, but overall it was very moving. When you think about it being held once every four years, it makes sense that it’s a precious tournament that you only get to watch about 20 times in your life, so I watched it all day every day until the closing ceremony” (Tokyo/man in his 20s), “I’m sure there were a lot of problems, but I was very impressed because I got a glimpse of the efforts the players made as they competed, and could see the communication and respect between the players” (Aichi/woman in her 40s), and “I learned about the fun of a sport I didn’t know about, and I was inspired by people who were working hard and having fun” (Okayama/man in his 50s).

A total of 19 new world records were set in seven events, including archery, athletics, and modern pentathlon, at this year’s Olympics. Although there were rumors of “misjudging issues” in some events, such as judo and soccer, the athletes’ passionate performances attracted the attention of people all over the world.

■ The most popular sport was “Judo,” and the new sport “Breakin'” also made it into the TOP 10

The survey also looked at the “sports that attracted the most attention.” In first place was Judo, in second place was Table Tennis, and in third place was Gymnastics. Breaking, a new sport added to the tournament, also drew attention, coming in seventh.

In the first place event, Judo, Abe Uta was defeated and cried, but Abe Hifumi fought hard and won the gold medal, thinking, “I have to do it as an older brother.” This was his second consecutive victory, following the previous Tokyo tournament, and it showed the strong bond between the Abe siblings.

“(What was impressive) was Abe Uta’s loss in the first round. It was painful to watch as it conveyed how she had been thinking as she practiced for the past three years. In judo, there is a lot of pressure to win a medal, so I think it must have been tough being plagued by injuries” (Saga prefecture/woman in her 40s), “I was frustrated with the umpire, but I was moved by the sincerity in the eyes of the athletes” (Chiba prefecture/woman in her 60s), and “I was impressed by the strength of Abe Hifumi, who appeared after her sister Abe Uta was defeated” (Fukuoka prefecture/man in his 40s). It seems that they were watching the athletes’ brave performances with a passion for the national sport.

In addition, the seventh place,[Breaking]attracted a lot of comments, due to the fact that it is a new sport. In particular, the performances of B-girl AMI (Yuasa Ami), Shigekix (Hamari Shigeyuki), Hiro10 (Oono Hirohito), and others who won the gold medal, seemed to attract attention.

Regarding memorable scenes, some participants mentioned, “It was impressive that two female breaking competitors made it to the quarterfinals, and one of them even won” (Tokyo/20s/man), and “Hiro10, who had already been eliminated in the preliminaries in breaking and had to compete, packed in the moves that he would have used in the match he had won, and received a standing ovation” (Kagawa/30s/woman).

In addition, many people were impressed by the performance of the young athletes, with one person saying, “The young athletes performed wonderfully! And I was moved by how the whole venue was cheering everyone on warmly, regardless of whether they won or lost.” (Kyoto Prefecture/woman in her 60s) There are likely many people who are already looking forward to the next Games in Los Angeles in 2028.

[Survey Overview]
Survey period: Thursday, August 15th to Thursday, August 22nd, 2024
Survey subjects: 1,000 people in total (members of our own survey panel[Oricon Monitor Research]men and women in their teens, twenties, thirties, forties, fifties, and sixties)
Survey area: Nationwide
Survey method: Online survey
Research organization: Oricon Monitor Research