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Japan’s 19-year-old Gymnastics Captain Shoko Miyata Gets Expelled From Games After Found Smoking and Drinking Alcohol at Olympic Camp
Japan women's gymnastics star and team captain Shoko Miyata has been sent home for breaking smoking rules.
Trigger Warning: This article contains references to alcohol consumption and smoking
A week before the Opening Ceremony, the 19-year-old captain of Japan’s women’s gymnastics team was sent home after admitting to underage smoking and drinking.
The Japan Times reported that Shoko Miyata withdrew from the 2024 Summer Olympics after revealing she had smoked cigarettes and consumed alcohol at the National Training Center in Tokyo.
Japan's gymnastics star Shoko Miyata has been sent home
The Japan Gymnastics Association (JGA) received information about Miyata’s drinking and smoking on Monday, July 15. The next day, Miyata confirmed the allegations. She was sent back to Japan from Monaco, where the team was training, on Wednesday, July 17.
“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 Japan Gymnastics Association, told reporters in Tokyo, according to the BBC.
What is the legal age for smoking in Japan?
Although the legal age for adulthood in Japan was recently lowered from 20 to 18 years old, it is still illegal to smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol under the age of 20.
The story has gained enough traction online to take the form of a major scandal in Japan. The mental health of Olympians has come under the spotlight as more athletes open up about the pressure of battling at the world’s highest level.
Miyata’s exit comes as a shocker, as the Japan team is aiming to win a team medal for the first time since the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Japan will now have a team of 4 rather than 5 gymnasts. Social media shows just how absurd the criticism has gotten.
“We apologize from the bottom of our hearts for this,” Tadashi Fujita, president of the Japan Gymnastics Association, said, according to the Guardian.
Miyata’s personal coach, Mutsumi Harada, asked for empathy for the athlete.
Coach Mutsumi Harada further added that the gymnast, who is Japan's reigning national champion, had been struggling with the intense pressure of representing her country at the Paris Games during the team's training camp in Monaco.
This was going to be Shoko Miyata's first appearance in the Summer Olympics
Shoko Miyata won her third straight NHK Trophy in the all-around competition in May to qualify for the Paris Games. The Kyoto native also won the all-around at the All Japan Championships.
The entire Japan women's artistic gymnastics team is comprised of first-time Olympians. Kohane Ushioku is the oldest member of the squad at 19. She will be joined by Mana Okamura, Haruka Nakamura, and Rina Kishi.
Japan won't add a fifth athlete to take Miyata's spot. Aiko Sugihara and Chiaki Hatakeda are alternates for the squad.
The women's artistic gymnastics schedule at the 2024 Olympics runs from July 27 to August 5. Japan's only team medal in this event at the Olympics was in 1964, when it won bronze. The team has finished in the top five in three of the past four Olympics.
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