News

Japanese gymnast banned from Olympics after drinking alcohol

23 July 2024 By Sarah Neish

The captain of Japan’s women’s gymnastics team has been withdrawn from the Olympics after breaking the team’s code of conduct in relation to consuming alcohol.

Shoko Miyata, captain of the Japanese women’s team has withdrawn from the Paris Olympics after allegedly drinking alcohol and smoking (one instance of each), which breached the team’s code of conduct as set out by the Japanese Gymnastics Association (JGA).

Both smoking and drinking alcohol are prohibited by the association.

The drinking incident involving 19-year-old Miyata allegedly took place “in a room in the Athlete Village of the National Training Centre”, during the team’s training camp in Monaco, said JGA executive director Kenji Nishimura.

Despite admitting that Miyata had “engaged in smoking and drinking due to numerous pressures from the competitive targets that had been set,” Nishimura confirmed at a press conference held on 19 July that: “Both parties discussed the matter and decided to withdraw [Miyata] from the Olympics.”

Tadashi Fujita, chief of the JGA apologised “from the bottom of our hearts” for the “great inconvenience and worry” caused by the team’s captain withdrawing just one week before the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.

The women’s squad will now compete with four athletes instead of five, the JGA confirmed. Japan’s gymnastics team has not won a medal since the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

Extreme pressure

However, Fujita stressed that the situation was not Miyata’s responsibility to bear alone.

“I believe the entire Gymnastics Association is responsible,” he said. “Ms. Miyata must atone for the crime she committed, though, and we will do our utmost to support her, so she can take a new step toward the future.”

The team’s coach Mutsumi Harada revealed that Miyata had been under extreme pressure to perform at the highest level.

“She was spending her days really burdened with so much pressure,” he said. “I would implore people to understand that.”

In Japan the legal drinking age is 20.

As the drinks business has reported, some nations are upping their efforts to limit the use of alcohol in society, especially around sporting events. In 2021 the Republic of Ireland banned alcohol advertising during sporting events held in Ireland, and has since confirmed it will ban alcohol advertising altogether before the 9pm watershed from 2025.

Alcohol Action Ireland (AAI) CEO Dr Sheila Gilheany told reporters: “Right now, Diageo is the number four broadcast advertiser to children, so having a threshold before which you wouldn’t see alcohol advertisements is actually a really important thing in trying to reduce the exposure of children to alcohol, as well as the broader population as well.”

The sale and advertising of alcoholic products in stadiums has long been banned by French law, and the organisers of the Paris Olympics have not applied for an exemption to this. However, somewhat controversially, VIPs will still be served booze in hospitality areas at this year’s Olympic Games.