It’s Coming Home. And 126 million Japanese could not wait.

To delight in a sport that was birthed in their homeland but gifted to the world. Judo to be showcased to billions at the storied venue of Tokyo’s Budoken where they still talk of the sweat and the toil and those who earned medals at the Olympics of 1964.

Now with empty crowds and passion confined to living rooms up and down this land. “A great shame,” says Sarah Adlington. “Their crowds are all in. It’s one place you really want to go.”

The 34-year-old from Edinburgh will begin her maiden Olympic excursions when the heavyweight 78kg competition commences tonight. She is one of the few foreigners who have felt their ears bleed from an audience throwing every scream in her cause. Not perhaps with acute insights into ippons and waza-aris. But when she struck Commonwealth gold at the SECC in Glasgow in 2014, it was as close it came to night out in Ginza. Almost.

“Glasgow was amazing,” she recounts. “But generally, when you're on that mat, with a crowd in the venue in Tokyo, with the knowledge they have of the sport, that feels amazing. But when you step on that mat, crowd or no crowd, home crowd or not home crowd, it's just you and that other person. It's a fight and they're trying to beat you. And you want to beat them.”

A welcome measure of contrasts away from the hustle of chasing ranking points and the bustle of championships and Grand Slams comes back at the club in Edinburgh where she trains but also coaches kids.

It was here that Sally Conway, her close friend, sparred relentlessly and drove herself ferociously towards Olympic bronze in Rio four years ago. Scottish Judo’s elite training centre is on the outskirts of the capital. Within a solid kick of the re-appearing Meadowbank Stadium, Adlington’s training pitch keeps her grounded when she returns from a high.

“If I go away and do well and come back, people are happy. If you go away and you've not done so well, people always treat you the same,” she says. “People within the judo club are interested in me as a person - they're happy if things go well but it doesn't change how people perceive you.

“As an athlete, sometimes you think that you have to get results to be perceived in a certain way. The club for me is a place where they accept me for who I am. After the announcement (of selection), people were delighted. But I'm not getting treated any differently.”

Adlington, who was granted a late entry through judo’s continental ranks, will begin unseeded in Tokyo in the Round of 32. Her first foe is Tunisia’s Nihel Cheikh Rouhou, a quarter-finalist in 2016 who is appearing at her fourth Games. Get through that and even bigger fish must be fried throughout tomorrow to secure a medal. Yet why not bring it home, she asks.

“During my career, I got fifth at the World Championships with really close matches on golden scoring. I've beaten world number ones and current Olympic champions. So I'm not going to go in knowing I'm not capable of beating the top girls in the category.”