Japanese gymnast Shoko Miyata has been sent home and will not compete at the Olympics after breaking the team’s smoking ban. The 19-year-old left Japan’s training camp in Monaco on Thursday as officials investigated the alleged incident.
The teenager – captain of her country’s women’s artistic gymnastics team – returned to Japan that night after an investigation concluded she had broken Japan Gymnastics Association rules.
Smoking is a violation of the association’s code of conduct.
“It has been decided that she will withdraw from the Olympics”
“With her confirmation and after discussions between all parties, it has been decided that she will withdraw from the Olympics,” Japan Gymnastics Association general secretary Kenji Nishimura told reporters in Tokyo.
Nishimura added that Miyata “looked exhausted” at the Monaco camp.
Mutsumi Harada, Miyata’s personal trainer, said the gymnast was struggling with the “pressure” of competing at the Games.
Miyata won a bronze medal at the 2022 World Championships
“She was spending her days really weighed down by so much pressure. I would implore people to understand that,” Harada said.
Miyata won a bronze medal at the 2022 World Championships in Liverpool and has been named to lead a team of Olympic debutants in Paris.
Japan is aiming for its first artistic gymnastics team medal since the 1964 Tokyo Games.
The Paris Games open on July 26.
Source: www.descopera.ro
