Japanese gymnast Shoko Miyata withdraws from Olympic Games after smoking and drinking alcohol

CNN —

Shoko Miyata, the captain of Japan’s women’s gymnastics team, has withdrawn from Paris 2024 after allegedlybreaking the team’s code of conduct by smoking and drinking alcohol, according to the Japanese Gymnastics Association (JGA).

The legal smoking and drinking age in Japan is 20 and the JGA’s code of conduct prohibits gymnasts from doing either during team activities, regardless of age. Miyata is 19.

USA's Simone Biles looks on during the artistic gymnastics women's team final during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre in Tokyo on July 27, 2021. (Photo by Loic VENANCE / AFP) (Photo by LOIC VENANCE/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article Simone Biles reflects on Tokyo Olympics in ‘Rising’: ‘I felt like I was in jail with my own brain and body’

“Both parties discussed the matter and decided to withdraw [Miyata] from the Olympics,” JGA executive director Kenji Nishimura told reporters at a press conference on July 19.

Nishimura said that one incident of smoking took place “in a private place at a certain location in Tokyo” and a separate incident of drinking took place “in a room in the Athlete Village of the National Training Center.”

“She engaged in smoking and drinking due to numerous pressures from the competitive targets that had been set,” Nishimura added.

Miyata, who won bronze on the balance beam at the 2022 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, was due to captain Japan’s women’s team of debut Olympians.

CNN is trying to reach Miyata for comment. She has not publicly commented and appears to have deleted her social media accounts.

The country’s women’s team is trying to win its first team medal since the 1964 Tokyo Games.

“We would like to apologize from the bottom of our