Kosuke Kitajima
The Japanese team included several past Olympic champions, three of them defending (freestyle wrestlers Kaori Icho and Saori Yoshida, and breaststroke swimmer Kosuke Kitajima). Yoshida, who won two consecutive gold medals in the Olympics before, became Japan's third female flag bearer at the opening ceremony since 2004, and the sixth in Olympic history. Javelin thrower and one-time world and Asian champion Yukifumi Murakami, on the other hand, served as the nation's team captain.