Shoko Miyata


Shoko Miyata is a Japanese artistic gymnast. She is the 2022 World [Artistic Gymnastics Championships|2022 World] bronze medalist on the balance beam as well as the 2022 Asian Championships silver medalist on vault and floor exercise. She was set to represent 2024 Summer Olympics">2024 in artistic gymnastics">2024 Summer Olympics, but withdrew from the Games after she admitted to smoking and drinking in violation of team rules.

Career

Miyata began training in gymnastics when she was four years old after following her older brother to a gymnastics class.

Junior

Miyata made her international debut at the 2018 International Gymnix competition in Montreal where she placed tenth in the all-around. In the event finals, she placed fifth on the vault and seventh on the balance beam. Later that year, she competed at the Junior Asian Championships where she helped Japan finish second in the team competition behind China. Individually, Miyata won bronze on vault behind Qi Qi of China and compatriot Ayumi Niiyama.
Miyata finished 28th in the all-around during the qualification round of the 2019 All-Japan Championships. She was selected to represent Japan at the inaugural Junior World Championships alongside Hazuki Watanabe and Chiaki Hatakeda. Together, they finished 11th as a team. Individually, Miyata finished 18th in the all-around and was the highest-placing Japanese female gymnast, and she was the first reserve for the vault final. She then placed 23rd in the all-around at the 2019 All-Japan Junior Championships.

Senior

2020

Miyata became age-eligible for senior international competitions in 2020 and made her senior international debut at the 2020 FIG [Artistic Gymnastics World Cup series|Melbourne World Cup]. She finished third on vault behind Jade Carey and Coline Devillard. However, most other competitions were canceled or postponed due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. In September, she competed at the All-Japan Senior Championships and finished 10th in the all-around. Then in December, she placed 56th in the qualification round of the All-Japan Championships.

2021

Miyata finished 36th in the all-around during the qualification round of the All-Japan Championships. She then won a silver medal on the vault behind Mai Murakami at the All-Japan Event Championships. At the All-Japan Senior Championships, she won the all-around title and improved her score from the All-Japan Championships by over 5 points. She led her club to the bronze medal at the All-Japan Team Championships and had the highest score in the all-around.

2022

Miyata began the season with a second-place finish at the All-Japan Championships. She then won the all-around title at the NHK Trophy, becoming the first high schooler to win the women's event in seven years. At the Asian Championships, she helped Japan finish third as a team. Individually, she placed fourth in the all-around and won silver medals on the vault and floor exercise behind Yeo Seo-jeong and Wu Ran, respectively.
In late October, Miyata made her senior World Championships debut at the World Championships in Liverpool, qualifying for the all-around, vault, balance beam, and floor event finals. She contributed scores of 14.400 on vault, 13.233 on balance beam, and 13.700 on the floor exercise towards Japan's seventh place finish in the team final. She then finished eighth in the all-around final, fifth in the vault final, and eighth in the floor final. In the balance beam final, she scored 13.533 and won the bronze medal behind teammate Hazuki Watanabe and Canadian Ellie Black. After the World Championships, she led her team to the title at the All-Japan Team Championships.

2023

In April, Miyata graduated from high school and enrolled in Juntendo University and joined its gymnastics club. She competed at the All-Japan Championships despite a stress fracture in her right heel, and she finished second behind Hazuki Watanabe. She then won her second consecutive NHK Trophy title and was selected for the World Championships team. She won the vault title at the All-Japan Event Championships and placed seventh on the balance beam.
Miyata competed at the World University Games where she helped Japan finish second as a team behind China. She withdrew from the all-around final after the third rotation, but she still competed in the event finals. She won gold on vault, bronze on floor exercise, and placed fourth on balance beam. At the 2023 World Championships in Antwerp she helped Japan qualify for the team final, where they ended up in eighth place and secured an Gymnastics at the [2024 Summer Olympics – Qualification|Olympic berth]. Individually she qualified for the vault final, where she placed sixth. After the World Championships, she competed at the All-Japan Team Championships and helped her club place seventh.

2024

Miyata began the season with her first All-Japan Championships victory. In the lead up to the NHK Trophy, she injured her left groin, but still chose to compete. She won the gold medal in the all-around and was selected for the Japanese Olympic team alongside Rina Kishi, Haruka Nakamura, Mana Okamura, and Kohane Ushioku.
Miyata was forced to leave the Olympic team before the start of the Paris Games after allegations surfaced that she had been smoking, in violation of the team's conduct code. On 19 July 2024 the Japan Gymnastics Association announced that Miyata had admitted to smoking and drinking, and would be withdrawing from the Games. She was 19 at the time, which is under Japan's legal smoking and drinking age of 20. In December 2024 the association announced that Miyata would not face any penalties, saying that her decision to withdraw from the Olympics was punishment enough.

2025

Miyata competed at the All-Japan Championships and NHK Trophy, winning vault silver at both competitions. She was chosen to represent Japan at the 2025 Summer Universiade in Essen, Germany. She won gold in the team, all round, vault, and floor events, as well as bronze on uneven bars.

Competitive history

YearEvent
20202020 FIG Artistic [Gymnastics World Cup series#Women|Melbourne World Cup]
2020All-Japan Senior Championships10
2020All-Japan Championships56
2021All-Japan Championships36
2021All-Japan Event Championships
2021All-Japan Senior Championships
2021All-Japan Team Championships
2022All-Japan Championships
2022NHK Trophy
2022Asian Championships47
2022World Championships7858
2022All-Japan Team Championships
2023All-Japan Championships
2023NHK Trophy
2023All-Japan Event Championships7
2023World University Games4
2023World Championships86
2023All-Japan Team Championships7
2024All-Japan Championships
2024NHK Trophy
2025All-Japan Championships7
2025NHK Trophy8
2025World University Games