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The Japanese artistic gymnastics team has sent its captain home from Olympics training for violating the team’s smoking ban.
Shoko Miyata was sent home from Monaco, where the team is training, because smoking violates the Japan Gymnastics Association’s code of conduct, according to multiple reports.
“With her confirmation and after discussions on all sides, it has been decided that she will withdraw from the Olympics,” Kenji Nishimura, the secretary general of the Japan Gymnastics Association, told reporters in Tokyo, according to the BBC.
Miyata “looked exhausted” at the training camp, Nishimura said.
Miyata’s personal coach, Mutsumi Harada, asked for empathy for the athlete.
“She was spending her days really burdened with so much pressure. I would implore people to understand that,” Harada said.
Miyata, 19, was a bronze medalist on the beam at the 2022 world championships.
Because of her banishment, Japan will compete with four gymnasts instead of five.
“We apologize from the bottom of our hearts for this,” Tadashi Fujita, president of the Japan Gymnastics Association, said, according to the Guardian.
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