Team Japan will participate in gymnastics at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, but it will do so without its captain.
On July 18, Team Japan pulled the captain of its women’s gymnastics team captain, Shoko Miyata, from Olympic competition. According to a report from BBC Sport, the 19-year-old gymnast was pulled from the team after a Japan Gymnastics Association investigation determined she violated the organization’s ban on drinking alcohol and smoking.
“With her confirmation and after discussions on all sides, it has been decided that she will withdraw from the Olympics,” Kenji Nishimura of the Japan Gymnastics Association told reporters.
Miyata’s coach, Mutsumi Harada, said that she had been feeling immense “pressure” heading into this summer’s games. Nishimura also said Miyata “looked exhausted” during the team’s training camp in Monaco.
“She was spending her days really burdened with so much pressure. I would implore people to understand that,” Harada said.
Miyata’s presence will be missed at the Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France. The 19-year-old gymnast won a bronze medal at the 2022 World Championships in Liverpool and had hoped to help secure the nation’s first medal in artistic gymnastics in 60 years.
