Nozomi Okuhara won the bronze medal in women's badminton singles at the Rio Games on Friday, when her opponent, China's Li Xuerui, withdrew.
The medal was the second for Japan in badminton at these games after Ayaka Takahashi and Misaki Matsutomo seized the women's doubles gold on Thursday. Japan's only previous Olympic medal in the sport was a silver in women's doubles at the 2012 London Games by Mizuki Fujii and Reika Kakiiwa.
The 21-year-old Okuhara, who in 2011 became Japan's youngest national women's singles champion at the age of 16 years, 8 months, was the winner of this year's All England Open.