Aiko Sugihara

Aiko Sugihara (杉原愛子, Sugihara Aiko, born (1999-09-19)19 September 1999) is a Japanese female artistic gymnast. She was the 2015 Asian team and all-around champion and uneven bars and floor exercise silver medalist. She was also the 2019 Summer Universiade champion with the team and silver medalist on the floor exercise. She represented Japan at the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games.

Junior career

Sugihara made her international debut at the 2013 City of Jesolo Trophy and placed thirteenth in the all-around. At the 2013 All-Japan Championships, she finished eighth in the all-around. She then finished eleventh in the all-around at the 2013 NHK Trophy. At the 2013 All-Japan Event Championships, she finished fourth on the vault and eighth on the floor exercise. In September, she competed at the 2013 Junior Japan International, where she placed eighth on the vault and sixth on the floor exercise. At the 2014 All-Japan Championships, she finished sixteenth in the all-around. Then at the 2014 NHK Cup, she finished twelfth in the all-around.

Senior career

2015

Sugihara won the bronze medal in the all-around at the All-Japan Championships behind Asuka Teramoto and Yuki Uchiyama. She then won the all-around at the NHK Cup and was named to compete at the World Championships. At the All-Japan Event Championships, she finished eighth on the uneven bars and won the bronze medal on the balance beam and the silver medal on the floor exercise.

She was selected to compete at the Asian Championships in Hiroshima alongside Natsumi Sasada, Asuka Teramoto, Sakura Yumoto, Yuki Uchiyama, and Sae Miyakawa, and they won the team gold medal. Individually, Sugihara won the gold medal in the all-around with a total score of 58.050. In the event finals, she won the silver medal on the uneven bars behind Zhu Xiaofang and on the floor exercise behind Wang Yan. She then competed at the World Championships alongside Asuka Teramoto, Mai Murakami, Sae Miyakawa, Sakura Yumoto, and Natsumi Sasada, and they finished fifth in the team final.

2016

Sugihara won the bronze medal in the all-around at the All-Japan Championships. She also won the bronze medal in the all-around at the NHK Cup behind Asuka Teramoto and Mai Murakami, and she was named to the seven-person Olympic training squad from whom the final team of five would be selected. At the All-Japan Event Championships, she won the silver medals on the uneven bars and the balance beam.

She was selected to represent Japan at the 2016 Summer Olympics alongside Sae Miyakawa, Mai Murakami, Asuka Teramoto, and Yuki Uchiyama, and they finished fourth in the team final. After the Olympics, she competed at the Toyota International and won the silver medals on the uneven bars and on the floor exercise, and she finished fourth on the balance beam.

2017

At the All-Japan Championships, Sugihara won the silver medal in the all-around behind Mai Murakami. She then won another all-around silver medal at the NHK Trophy. At the All-Japan Event Championships, she finished fourth on the uneven bars and fifth on the floor exercise.

Sugihara competed at the World Championships in Montreal, where she finished sixth in the all-around final. In December, at the Toyota International, she finished ninth on the balance beam and won the silver medal on the floor exercise behind Mai Murakami.

2018

Sugihara finished sixth in the all-around at the Tokyo World Cup. She then finished fourth in the all-around at the All-Japan Championships and at the NHK Cup. She withdrew from the World Championships due to a back injury. She returned to competition at the Toyota International and won the silver medal on the floor exercise behind Asuka Teramoto.

2019

Sugihara finished fourth in the all-around at the Tokyo World Cup. She then competed at the All-Japan Championships and finished fifth in the all-around. At the NHK Cup, she finished fourth and was selected to compete at the World Championships. At the All-Japan Event Championships, she placed sixth on the balance beam and won the silver medal on the floor exercise behind Asuka Teramoto.

Athe Summer Universiade, she won the team gold medal alongside Teramoto and Hitomi Hatakeda. She finished fourth in the all-around final with a total score of 52.450, and she also finished fourth in the balance beam final. In the floor exercise final, she scored 13.000 and won the silver medal behind Italian gymnast Carlotta Ferlito. She then competed at the World Championships alongside Hitomi Hatakeda, Nagi Kajita, Akari Matsumura, and Asuka Teramoto, and they finished eleventh in the qualification round, which earned Japan a team spot for the 2020 Olympic Games. After the World Championships, she competed at the Toyota International, where she finished sixth on the balance beam.

2020-2021

The 2020 All-Japan Championships were postponed until December due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan, and Sugihara finished eighth in the all-around. Then at the 2021 All-Japan Championships, she finished fourth in the all-around. At the 2021 NHK Trophy, she once again finished fourth in the all-around and was named to Japan's 2020 Olympic team alongside Hitomi Hatakeda, Mai Murakami, and Yuna Hiraiwa. Then at the All-Japan Event Championships, she won the silver medal on the balance beam behind Murakami, and she won the gold medal on the floor exercise.

At the postponed 2020 Olympic Games, she helped Japan finish fifth in the team final, contributing scores on vault, uneven bars, and floor exercise.

2022

Sugihara took a year off from competition due to burnout.

2023

In June, Sugihara founded her own company, TRyAS, to popularize artistic gymnastics and support gymnasts. That month, she also returned to competing at the All-Japan Event Championships, where she competed on floor. She scored 13.400 and won that event.

2024

Sugihara worked with a leotard manufacturer to design a new leotard, which she dubbed the "Aitard" after herself and debuted in competition. The leotard has a lower cut, with fabric extending to the top of the legs, and is based on the attire worn by men's aerobic gymnasts. Sugihara said that while she had not minded wearing high-cut leotards when she was younger, as she grew older, she began to have concerns about wearing them, and photographs of her in leotards had received sexual comments online. She was inspired to create a new leotard design after the German women's gymnastics team competed in unitards at the 2020 Summer Olympics and after a male employee of hers suggested creating a new gymnastics outfit for parents who did not want their children wearing revealing leotards. The new leotards conform to International Gymnastics Federation rules.

She finished fifth in the all-around at the All-Japan Artistic Gymnastics Championships in April, then competed at the NHK Trophy in May and again finished in 5th place. Due to her results, she was named an alternate for the Japanese team for the 2024 Summer Olympics. Although one of the team's gymnasts, Shoko Miyata, was withdrawn from competing, Sugihara did not compete in her stead because the withdrawal was not for medical reasons.

In September, Sugihara competed in the National Sports Festival, representing her home prefecture of Osaka, where she won a team gold medal. One week later, she competed at the All-Japan Senior Championships, which she won for the third time, seven years after her prior victory there.