Oda served as coach and captain of the Japanese athletics team at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

He also served as coach for the Japanese athletics team at the 1952 Summer Olympics at Helsinki and the 1954 Asian Games in Manila.

[5] His sporting achievements were recognized with the creation of the Mikio Oda Memorial International Amateur Athletic Game, an annual track and field competition that has been held since 1967.

In 1988, Oda was honored by the government as a Person of Cultural Merit, and in 1989, he was named honorary chairman of the Japan Association of Athletics Federations.

In 2000, Oda was posthumously chosen as the best Asian male athlete of the century by a panel of track and field experts.