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Yet, in a moment almost fit for Ripley's, the Japanese squad came an astonishing fourth in the 4x100 metres relay at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
This story is being recounted to me with quiet humility by Hiroshi Takeuchi. And the Japanese delegation's soft-spoken press attache isn't done yet.
'Two years later,' he adds, 'we were beaten to silver at the 2006 Asian Games. By Thailand.'
This small tale matters. Because Takeuchi is making two gentle points: on the world stage, Asia is improving, and in Asia the depth is growing.
Asia's athletes mostly get lost at an Olympics, partially because it's hard to see them among cupboard-sized Germans and sky-scraping Americans. Our heroes are smaller, heavyweight talents who win in lightweight categories in boxing and weightlifting.
Our heroes have also, historically, not registered too highly on the index of sporting sexiness. They win, but in conventionally less glamorous sports. Hundred-metre golds are not our style, we triumph in archery, dominate in judo, own badminton.
But some delicate change is under way, some treading has begun on foreign turf.
On the track (China's Liu Xiang, 110m hurdles), on the field (Japan's Koji Murofushi, hammer) and in the water (Japan's Kosuke Kitajima, 100m, 200m breaststroke), Asia won gold in Athens in sports it is mostly inept in.
This spread of medals counts, but it is the count of medals that still remains primary. And the numbers suggest that our continent's challenge is gently growing.
Last week, International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said that in 2004 he prophesied not just a rise of China but an awakening of Asia. Like a politician he was being polite to his constituency, but his argument was not short of fact.
In 1952, not a single Asian nation was in the top 15 on the medal table; in 2004, three nations (China, Japan, South Korea) were in the Top 10.
Progress has been slow but shining. Japan jumped from five golds in 2000 to 16 in 2004, but it is the smaller nations that have awoken from a coma of laziness.
In Athens, India won its first Olympic individual silver and Thailand won a record three golds. Indonesia, which did not win a single medal between 1952 and 1988, has won 20 medals in the past five Games.
Asians enjoy the Olympics, its romanticism appeals to us, its sense of history sits well with us. Takeuchi draws an interesting parallel between Japan's love for traditional martial arts and its appreciation of the Olympics, which in the days of the amateur was seemingly pure and honourable.
Japan has hosted one summer Games, so has South Korea. And IOC member from Singapore Ng Ser Miang makes a powerful point when he links South Korea's advancement to its hosting of the Seoul Olympics.
Hosting the Games creates facilities and roots sport in the culture, and China will benefit vastly from this unique gathering on its shores.
Furthermore, says Ng Ser Miang, 'more cities (in Asia) are focusing on sport and organising sports events and promoting sports in a much bigger way.'
Doha held the Asian Games, Dubai is a sporting hub, and now, he says, even Singapore is hosting the Youth Olympics. Everyone, he knows, aches for a home- grown hero.
In China, sport is powered by the state. In Japan, about 30 sponsors pay about $2.8 million each during the four-year Olympic cycle. In athletically incompetent India, corporations and sports- management companies are now embracing a new professionalism.
'Our purpose is to win Olympic medals,' says Manisha Malhotra, administrator for the Mittal Champions Trust. 'We adopt an athlete, take care of everything, put them in touch with nutritionists, physiotherapists, mental trainers, top coaches.'
It costs them about US$3 million (S$4.1 million) a year, yet already 14 of their athletes are at this Olympics. And one day they will start winning.
One day, too, Asia, having inched its way forward, will be a muscular Olympic force. And hey, who knows, maybe a Japanese sprinter will win the 100m gold.
