Everything was in place for the women’s Japanese artistic gymnastics team to make their mark at the Paris Olympics. When they last created a similar hope in the Olympics, Larisa Latynina’s mesmerizing routines captivated the gymnastics community. It was the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and the Soviet Union kept her form intact in the team event, as the champion. However, Japanese women didn’t let down as they clinched the bronze. Since then, the country hasn’t had many expectations from the Olympic gymnastics team event until this time. And in the turn of fate, they will have to enter the Paris Olympics, leaving their captain, despite having substitution ready. 

Such a strange situation followed after a few ifs and buts, coming from the rules and regulations. Yet, the Japanese team will have to accept reality and move on.

The Paris Olympics will witness a gymnastic crisis once in a lifetime 

As posted by the X-handle, Gym_Navi, the women’s Japanese artistic gymnastics team, will have to go on with four regular members in the Paris Olympics team event. Notably, the team event needs five members, where four have to perform and only the top three scores are registered. In the finals, the top three performers are allowed to take the mat, and all of their scores are taken into account. But for Japan, team captain Shoko Miyata will not perform in Paris as she had to move out of the final list. Now, as she bowed out without facing injury or illness, the reserve athlete, Aiko Sugihara, can’t fill the vacancy. So the team will have to perform with four gymnasts despite having the standby on the list. Such a tragic situation has come after some decisions from the country’s top authorities. 

As per the news update, the Japanese team reached Monaco as part of their training before the Paris Olympics. Shoko Miyata was on the team then. But the situation went down on July 17 when she wasn’t present with the team in the training routines. The stakeholders continued to keep mum on that. Meanwhile, a further investigation revealed that she had to return to Tokyo after being blamed for breaking the code of conduct of the Japanese national team. According to reports, Shoko Miyata was observed consuming substances prohibited by the Japanese Gymnastics Association.

In such a situation, the Olympic rules won’t allow the inclusion of another athlete. The JGA knows that, as the president of, Tadashi Fujita mentioned, “We apologize from the bottom of our hearts for this.” In such an affair, they will have to leave arguably their best athlete at home. Expectedly, the situation has led to grieving. 

Yet to close but yet so far for someone most hopeful 

Shoko Miyata had an enormous responsibility to maintain the medal-winning prospect for the team. The 19-year-old came into prominence after the Tokyo Olympics. In the 2022 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, she claimed the individual bronze medal in the balance beam event. Her overall performance made her the fifth person on the list. This year, Shoko Miyata fueled the hope even more. 

In April this year, she claimed the gold medal in Japan’s National Championships, whereas she already has two silver medals from the same contest. In fact, she embraced her leadership role for the Paris Olympics wholeheartedly. Before leaving for Monaco, the Juntendo University-trained gymnast mentioned that in her comment. 

Wearing a positive attitude, she claimed, “As the ace and captain, I have a big responsibility. I hope I can lead Japan with a positive attitude”. But as per her coach, Mutsumi Harada, she felt the immense pressure of the position, and that led her to consume addictive materials to ease her mental situation. However, now, things are on a fine line. Eventually, the truth is that Japan will step into the Paris Olympics with its best gymnast, sitting a thousand miles away.