![Overcoming Challenges through Smiles: Insights from Sayuri Sugimoto [Athlete Profiles]](/en/content/images/size/w1280/format/webp/20250910132614_rhythmic-gymnastics-athlete-stories.jpeg)
Overcoming Challenges Through Smiles - Athletic Tales Featuring Sayuri Sugimoto
Japan's "Fairy Japan" Rhythmic Gymnastics Team Gears Up for Tokyo 2020
The Japanese national rhythmic gymnastics team, known as "Fairy Japan," is in the final stretch of preparation for the upcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The team, led by captain Sayuri Sugimoto, has been making waves in the rhythmic gymnastics world, with a successful start to the 2019 season and ambitious plans for the Olympics.
Sugimoto, who made the A team in 2013 and was part of a squad that earned Japan's first medal in the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in 40 years in 2015, admitted that she considered stepping down as captain in October or November 2018 due to feelings of unease about keeping up the spirit for another two years. However, an all-members meeting where everyone expressed their desire for her to continue leading the team resulted in Sugimoto deciding to stay on as captain.
The team practices at the Japan Institute of Sports Sciences in Tokyo's Akabane area, where they live together and spend nearly 24 hours a day together during training. This close-knit environment has helped to foster a strong bond among the team members, with tensions never going too far among them. Inna Bystrova, a coach for the Japanese national rhythmic gymnastics team, is based in Russia, so the team travels back and forth between Russia and Japan for training.
Sugimoto values each day of practice as a means to overcome the pressure and build confidence. The team sets success-rate targets for maneuver execution during practice to build confidence and maintain a high standard of performance. Sugimoto's sister, who retired from the sport but became Sugimoto's biggest supporter, rushed to cheer her on during her performances at Rio 2016.
The team's upcoming performance at the 2019 Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships will serve as a "preliminary skirmish" before Tokyo 2020. Sugimoto plans to attempt a unique apparatus manipulation in which two clubs are placed on a hoop, the arrangement is kicked into the air, the hoop flies forward, and the clubs shoot straight up. The team's ball routine for the Olympics will have a 'journey' storyline accompanied by bright and cheerful music, with each member's destination open-ended.
The difficulty score in rhythmic gymnastics no longer has a maximum limit, and greater point deductions are given for mistakes, increasing the pressure on competitors to achieve flawless performances. Sugimoto and her team are ready to take on this challenge, with their sights set on making history at Tokyo 2020.
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