Nidhish Waghmare
Japanese gymnast Shoko Miyata has been sent home after breaking a team smoking ban. On Thursday, July 18, The 19 year old women’s artistic gymnastics team captain was sent back to her home , won’t be allowed to participate in the 2024 Paris Olympics for smoking, just 10 days before the global competition, the Japanese Gymnastics Association said.
Shoko Miyata
Shoko Miyata was born on 24th September, 2004 is a Japanese artistic gymnast, began her career at a very early age at just the age of four. Miyata made her international debut in the International Gymnix competition in Montreal in 2018. She made her senior international competitions debut in 2020 at the Melbourne World Cup.
Some of her victories such as, she won the 2022 World bronze medals on the balance beam as well as the 2022 Asian Championships silver medalist on vault and floor exercise.
Miyata began the 2024 Paris Olympics with her first All-Japan Championships victory. In the lead up to the NHK Trophy, she injured her left groin, but still chose to compete. She won the gold medal in the all-around and was selected for the Japanese Olympic team with the other members including Rina Kishi, Huruka Nakamura, Mana Okamura, and Kohane Ushioku. According to the official she won’t be able to play the continue as she was caught smoking & drinking and was forced to leave.
Updates on Shoko Miyata
The 19 year old Japanese women’s artistic gymnastics team captain Shoko Miyata was investigated and found that she had violated the Japan Gymnastics Association’s rules for drinking and smoking.
“With her confirmation and after discussions on all sides, it has been decided that she will withdraw from the Olympics,” Japan Gymnastics Association secretary general Kenji Nishimura also told reporters in Tokyo.
Mutsumi Harada, her coach, said she was under pressure and was struggling with the stress of representing her country at the Games during the teams training camp in Monaco.
According to Harada, “She was spending her days really burdened with so much pressure. I would implore people to understand that.”
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