Teófilo Toda

Despite being born in the Peruvian city of Huacho in 1935, Teófilo Toda sometimes faced problems representing his country of birth due to his Japanese heritage. Toda was a multiple-time Peruvian cycling champion, but in 1954 he was not allowed to compete in a South American competition in Uruguay after the Peruvian authorities refused to issue him with a passport. The injustice was covered in the press, with a newspaper speaking out about the discrimination of Toda having a Japanese father.

A decade later Toda qualified to represent Peru at the Tokyo Olympics, being their only cyclist out of the 31 athletes to compete. Initially, however, there was a problem as the Peruvian Olympic Committee stated they did not have the funds to finance a cyclist at the Games. The Nisei University Association of Peru (AUNP), an organisation created to promote closer cultural ties between Peru and Japan, stepped up with a fundraising campaign. It was a success, with Toda making his way to the Tokyo Games where he placed 84th in the road race, only 0.2 seconds behind the race winner. The following year he retired from cycling, with him later living in Inuyama, Japan.