The Japanese Group has been highly regarded for consistently good results in the World Championships over a long time. However, since the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, many countries have improved their group performance because group competition has been adopted as an official Olympic event, so the Japanese Group failed to qualify for those Olympic Games.  After placing 4th in the 1999 World Championships in their home country (Osaka, Japan), they placed 5th in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.  In spite of that excellent result, they placed only 16th at the 2003 World Championships in Budapest, and did not qualify for the Athens Olympics in the following year. 

Those disappointing results gave rise to a new strategy to excel in the Olympic Games: The Japanese association now recruits gymnasts with good potential from all over the country; these gymnasts live together and have plenty of time to train together. For this purpose, a nationwide tryout was held in December 2005, and the Japanese Group was composed in April, 2006.  The former individual gymnasts, Nachi Misawa, Kotono Tanaka, and Yuka Endo joined the group after that.

All of these gymnasts are independent from their parents and do their own housework, such as cleaning, laundry and cooking, by themselves. They trained 8 hours a day everyday. Growing through homesickness and hard training, they grew up as independent people. Those efforts finally brought them a great result: the young team, consisting of only high school students, placed 7th in the 2007 world championships in Patras and qualified for the Beijing Olympics.

At the Beijing Olympics, they went out of bounds after the last exchange on hoops: this mistake made them finish in 10th place even though they had hoped to finish in 5th place.  Regretting this mistake, all of the members remained on the team to aim for the 2009 world championships in Mie, Japan.

The theme of this year for the team is “Be Independent”.  The members have been training as the coaches directed them, but this year they are required to be independent, and to produce their own routines by themselves.

They achieved the first-ever gold medal for Japan with 3 ribbons & 2 ropes at the 2009 Portimão World Cup at the beginning of this season.  That victory truly increased their fighting spirit for the coming championships. After hard training, they will compete in their home country with confidence.  They will perform their routines with strong harmony to make their dreams come true.

3 Ribbons & 2 Ropes Exercise

Music: Soundtrack from the film “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” by John Powell, arranged by the Japanese composer Etsuko Furukawa.

1. Nachi Misawa (19)
2. Honami Tsuboi (20)
3. Kotono Tanaka (18)
4. Yuka Endo (17)
5. Chihana Hara (20)

5 Hoops

Music: Soundtrack from the film “Moulin Rouge,” EL Tango De Roxanne, arranged by the Japanese composer Chie Sakamoto.

5. Saori Inagaki (19) replaces Chihana Hara

1-4. As above

Japanese Group’s Results:

2007 World Championships Patras (GRE): 7th place All-around.

Olympic Games --- Sydney 2000: 5th place / Beijing 2008: 10th place.

2009 Portimão World Cup:  Gold medal on 3 Ribbons & 2 Ropes