Sports Paris 2024: Japanese gymnast sent home after smoking

Hm, I wonder how other sports associations handle such "misconduct."


Japan's star gymnast Miyata Shoko, 19, captain of the women's team for the Paris Olympics, has withdrawn from the national team after admitting to smoking and drinking, the Japan Gymnastics Association (JGA) announced Friday. This unexpected development comes just a week before the Games begin. The JGA started investigating the matter after receiving information on Monday about her smoking and drinking. Miyata confessed to the allegations the next day. Consequently, the association instructed her to return to Japan from Monaco, where the team was training, on Wednesday. Miyata, a student at Juntendo University, provided further details to JGA officials on Thursday, admitting to smoking cigarettes in her private time and drinking alcohol at the National Training Center in Tokyo in late June and July.

Smoking is in violation of the association's code of conduct. "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 told reporters in Tokyo. Nishimura added that Miyata had "looked exhausted" at the camp in Monaco. Mutsumi Harada, Miyata's personal coach, said the gymnast was struggling with the "pressure" of competing at the Games. "She was spending her days really burdened with so much pressure. I would implore people to understand that," said Harada. Miyata won a bronze medal at the 2022 World Championships in Liverpool and she had been set to lead a team of first-time Olympians in Paris.

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Wow. That was dumb. But impressive she could compete at such a high level with those habits.