A gymnast from Team Japan was sent home from the 2024 Olympic Games for breaking the team’s no-smoking and alcohol policy.
Shoko Miyata, 19, the captain of her women’s artistic gymnastics team, was discovered to be in breach of the Japan Gymnastics Association’s regulations, which prohibit smoking of any kind, according to the BBC. Miyata is also younger than the 20-year-old legal drinking age in Japan. After the investigation into her behavior was completed, she left her team’s training camp in Monaco on Thursday night and went back to her native Japan
One of the most well-known gymnasts in Japan is Miyata. At the 2022 World Championships in Liverpool, she won a bronze medal on the balance beam. Miyata won her first gold medal at the Japanese national championships in April of this year after taking home silver in the previous two years.
Since 1964, Japan’s female gymnastics team has failed to win a medal. Though it will undoubtedly be more challenging without Miyata’s assistance, the nation hopes to reverse that this year
“With her confirmation, and after discussions on all sides, it has been decided that she will withdraw from the Olympics,” Kenji Nishimura, the secretary general of the association, said reporters during a Tokyo press conference.
Miyata’s coach, Matsumi Harada, claimed that the 19-year-old was finding it difficult to shoulder the “burden” of representing her nation and captaining a group of Olympic newcomers in the Paris Games. She was under a great deal of pressure throughout the day. I beseech everyone to comprehend that,” Harada stated.