Japan’s star gymnast Shoko Miyata, 19, the captain of the women’s team for the Paris Olympics, withdrew from the national team after she admitted to smoking cigarettes and drinking, the Japan Gymnastics Association (JGA) said Friday, in a shocking turn of events just a week before the Games open.
The JGA has been looking into the case after the association received information on Monday that she had been smoking and drinking. She admitted to the allegations the following day. The association then instructed her to return to Japan from Monaco, where the team was training, on Wednesday.
Miyata, a Juntendo University student, gave 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.