If there are any people around Samurai Japan who understand Olympic success is not a given, it's Atsunori Inaba and Masahiro Tanaka.
The two were part of the Japan team that was among the favorites to win gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. That roster was stacked, featuring players who had helped Japan win the inaugural World Baseball Classic two years earlier and eight who would move to MLB in the years after the games.
The team flopped.
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