Boxer Ryota Murata demonstrated in 2011 that he can compete successfully on the world stage, placing runnerup as a middleweight at the world championships in Baku.
A year later, Murata has a chance to become Japan's first boxing gold medalist since the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, where bantamweight Takao Sakurai claimed the top prize.
Sakurai passed away in January at age 70.