The leader of Japan's women's Olympic gymnastics squad is expected to return from Europe following claims she was seen smoking.
According to reports by Kyodo News in Japan, Shoko Miyata may depart from her team's training facilities in Monaco ahead of the Paris Olympics starting next week. Smoking is against Japanese law for anyone under 20 years old and at 19, Miyata falls into that category.
Miyata was noticeably absent during a recent training session on Wednesday. The head of development within Japan's gymnastics association, Hikaru Tanaka, acknowledged that there were specific reasons for her absence.
As the current national champion in Japan, Miyata has notched bronze in beam events at the 2022 world championship and finished fifth overall in the all-around competition. While Japan's men secured gold in gymnastics during the 2016 Olympics, their women have yet to win a team medal since 1964. The last individual artistic gymnastics medal for Japanese women was earned by Mai Murakami at the 2020 Games with her bronze on the floor exercise.
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