Kikuko Inoue was inspired to take up equestrian by Takeichi, Baron Nishi, who had won the individual jumping event at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. It would not be until 1964 in Tokyo, however, that she would make her Olympic debut, when she came sixth and last with the Japanese team in dressage, alongside Nagahira Okabe and Yoritsune Matsudaira. Individually she was the squad’s top rider, finishing 16th out of 22 competitors. Nonetheless, this made her the first woman to represent Japan in equestrian and, until 2004, one of only two, with Naoko Sakurai, who competed in 1988. Inoue returned to the Games in 1972 in Munich, where she was 32nd, and, at the age of 63, in 1988 in Seoul, where she was 46th. At the time, this made her the oldest Olympic representative of Japan and, as of 2018, it remains the record for Japanese women.
Japan