In Photos: Historic moments of the Olympic Games -- Athens 2004

2004 Athens Olympics -- Athens hosts the Olympics for the first time in 108 years since the first modern Olympic Games was held in 1896. Japan won 16 gold, nine silver and 12 bronze medals in the global event. (Mainichi/Tsutomu Koseki)

2004 Athens Olympics -- Japan's Kosuke Kitajima competes to win the gold medal in the men's 100-meter breaststroke. He said after the competition, "I feel super good!" His comment was awarded the grand prize among a list of vogue words and phrases for the year in Japan. (Mainichi/Tsutomu Koseki)

2004 Athens Olympics -- Japan's Kosuke Kitajima shows a gold medal he won. He claimed gold medals in the men's 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke events. He also secured the bronze in the 400-meter medley relay. (Mainichi/Tsutomu Koseki)

2004 Athens Olympics -- Japan's Koji Murofushi performs in the men's hammer throw. He finished the competition in second place but was later handed the gold medal as his competitor who finished in first place was disqualified on suspicion of doping.

2004 Athens Olympics -- Japan's Mizuki Noguchi wins the gold medal in the women's marathon. It was the second consecutive victory in the sport for Japan following the 2000 Sydney event, where Naoko Takahashi won gold. The temperature hit 35 degrees Celsius at the start of the race. The vertical drop of the course was more than 200 meters, the largest in Olympic history. (Mainichi/Tsutomu Koseki)

2004 Athens Olympics -- Japanese swimmer Ai Shibata wins the gold medal in the women's 800-meter freestyle. It was the first gold medal in 12 years for a Japanese female swimmer following the victory of Kyoko Iwasaki at the 1992 Barcelona Games. (Mainichi/Tsutomu Koseki)

2004 Athens Olympics -- Japan's Saori Yoshida hoists her coach on her shoulders after winning the gold medal in the 55-kilogram division of the women's freestyle wrestling. She said after the competition, "I felt the pressure but overcame that by fighting my own mind." (Mainichi/Masahiro Kawata)

2004 Athens Olympics -- Japan's Kyoko Hamaguchi secures the bronze medal in the 72-kilogram division of the women's freestyle wrestling. (Mainichi/Akihiro Ogomori)

2004 Athens Olympics -- Japan's Hiroyuki Tomita performs on the horizontal bar as the last performer of the Japanese men's gymnastics team that won the gold medal in the team event. He successfully performed a "Kolman" aerial technique and landed after a "New Moon Somersault," a double-twisting double flip in the stretch position. (Mainichi/Akihiro Ogomori)

2004 Athens Olympics -- The Japanese men's gymnastics team wins the gold medal in the team event for the first time in 24 years since the 1980 Los Angeles Games. From left, Isao Yoneda, Hisashi Mizutori, Takehiro Kashima, Hiroyuki Tomita, Naoya Tsukahara and Daisuke Nakano are seen. (Mainichi/Takeshi Noda)

2004 Athens Olympics -- Japan's Keiji Suzuki wins the gold medal in the over-100-kilogram division in men's judo. He said after the competition, "I'm overwhelmed with emotion. I competed on behalf of those who had been defeated while realizing that my judo couldn't be rough." (Mainichi/Takeshi Noda)

2004 Athens Olympics -- Japan's Ryoko Tani (nee Tamura) wins her second consecutive gold medal in the 48-kilogram division of women's judo. She said after the competition, "I'm many times happier than I was in Sydney. I was supported by my husband in every aspect. I made up my mind to appear on the mat even if my leg hurt. I feel great that I've became a two-time world champion not only as Tamura, but also as Tani. (Mainichi/Takeshi Noda)

2004 Athens Olympics -- Japan's Ayumi Tanimoto wins the gold medal in the 63-kilogram division of women's judo. She won all five of her bouts by ippon, each within 2 minutes, including a default win. (Mainichi/Takeshi Noda)

2004 Athens Olympics -- Japan's Masae Ueno holds up the gold medal she won in the 70-kilogram division of women's judo. While facing tough competition, giving up the first point to her opponent in her first match, she managed to hold on and achieve victory. (Mainichi/Takeshi Noda)

2004 Athens Olympics -- Japan's Maki Tsukada is awarded the gold medal in the over-78-kilogram division of women's judo. She defeated Cuba's Daima Beltran in the final by ippon with a holding technique after giving a waza-ari point to her opponent. (Mainichi/Takeshi Noda)

2004 Athens Olympics -- Japan's Noriko Anno wins the gold medal in the 78-kilogram division of women's judo. It was "third time's a charm" for the athlete as she had been defeated in her first Olympic appearance in 1996 in Atlanta and in her second appearance at the 2000 Sydney Games. (Mainichi/Takeshi Noda)

2004 Athens Olympics -- The Japanese synchronized swimming team performs to capture its second consecutive silver medal at the Olympics. (Mainichi/Tsutomu Koseki)

2004 Athens Olympics -- Yukiko Ueno of the Japanese softball team pitches against China to achieve the first perfect game in Olympic history. The team won the bronze medal. (Mainichi/Takeshi Noda)

2004 Athens Olympics -- The Japanese baseball team wins the bronze medal. The team's manager, Shigeo Nagashima, had been hospitalized due to a stroke before the opening of the games, so head coach Kiyoshi Nakahata took charge of the team. The team was defeated by Australia in a semifinal but won the bronze medal match against Canada with a score of 11-2. (Mainichi/Takeshi Noda)