Japan: 7 facts on the Sochi 2014 Paralympics

Japan has participated at all 10 previous Paralympic Winter Games (1976 - 2010) 24 Feb 2014

Kuniko Obinata competes in the Women's Sitting Downhill during Day 7 of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Paralympics on March 18, 2010 in Whistler, Canada.

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• In 10 Winter Games the country has won 74 medals made up of 17 gold, 27 silver and 30 bronze

• More than half of Japan’s 74 medals were won on home snow and ice. In Nagano in 1998 they won 41 medals

• Japan is the only National Paralympic Committee to have won the same number of medals in both genders at the Paralympic Winter Games; 37 in women's events and 37 in men's events

• Japanese women have won nine gold medals, one more than the Japanese men. The total medal count is: women – nine gold, 12 silver and 16 bronze; men – eight gold, 15 silver and 14 bronze.

• Kuniko Obinata has competed in five Paralympic Winter Games (1994-2010) and has won 10 medals in alpine skiing events, including two gold medals, making her Japan’s most successful winter Paralympian

• Ice sledge hockey and wheelchair curling are the only two sports where Japan has yet to win a gold medal at the Winter Paralympics.

Athletes:

Alpine skiing

Toshihiro ABE

Akira KANO

Gakuta KOIKE

Hiraku MISAWA

Taiki MORII

Momoka MURAOKA

Kenji NATSUME

Takeshi SUZUKI

Yoshiko TANAKA