The captain of Japan’s women’s gymnastics team has withdrawn from the Paris Olympics after violating team rules by drinking alcohol and smoking.
Shoko Miyata, 19, left the team’s training camp in Monaco after an investigation confirmed the violation, the Japanese Gymnastics Association (JGA) said.
In Japan, the legal age for drinking and smoking is 20.
Miyata had been expected to lead a team consisting entirely of first-time Olympians, with Japan hoping to win its first medal in the sport since the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
The JGA said the women’s squad would now compete at the games, which begin on 26 July, with four athletes instead of five.
Mutsumi Harada, Miyata’s personal coach, called her behavior reckless but acknowledged she had been under extreme pressure to perform at the highest level. “She was spending her days really burdened with so much pressure,” he said, wiping away tears. “I would implore people to understand.”
