Japanese gymnastics captain out of Olympics for non-sporting reasons

Less than a week is left before the start of the Paris Olympics, but even at such short notice, teams are making changes to their bids, thus punishing athletes for unsportsmanlike behaviour.

Thus, according to Reuters, we will not see the captain of the Japanese national team in aesthetic gymnastics Shoko Miyata at the games in Paris. The reason - violation of the team code, which manifested itself in smoking and drinking alcohol.

The 19-year-old gymnast's personal coach Mutsumi Harada does not excuse her ward, but emphasises that her actions were caused by great stress:

"She spent her days under tremendous pressure," he said, wiping away tears. "I would ask people to understand that."

Indeed, the pressure was borne out by the fact that the Japanese gymnasts were expected to win the first team medal at the Olympics in 60 years.

Now the Japanese women's team will compete with a line-up of four athletes instead of five.