Japan at the 1928 Summer Olympics Japan at the 1928 Summer Olympics The Empire of Japan competed at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Japan Amateur Athletic Federation ("Nihon Rikujo Kyogi Renmei"), founded in 1925, officially took over sponsorship of the Japanese Olympic team from the Japan Amateur Athletic Association in 1928. Japanese government sponsorship of the Olympic effort continued, both financially, and through expansion of the annual Meiji Shrine Games to include a wider variety of sports, including archery, basketball, field hockey, rowing, table tennis, volleyball and equestrian sports. The games became the qualifying event for the Japanese Olympic team, which now for
Olympic Games Athens. These Games were, but are not now, officially recognised by the IOC and no Intercalated Games have been held since. The Games attracted a broad international field of participants and generated great public interest. This marked the beginning of a rise in both the popularity and the size of the Olympics. The Winter Olympics was created to feature snow and ice sports that were logistically impossible to hold during the Summer Games. Figure skating (in 1908 and 1920) and ice hockey (in 1920) were featured as Olympic events at the Summer Olympics. The IOC desired to expand this list