is a retired Japanese
artistic gymnast
Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different apparatuses. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which designs the Code of Points and regulates ...
and
Olympic medalist
This article includes lists of all Olympic medalists since 1896, organized by each Olympic sport or discipline, and also by Olympiad.
Medalist with most medals by sport Summer Olympic sports
Winter Olympic sports
A. Including military patrol e ...
. She is the
2017 World Champion and
2021 World Champion on floor exercise, the
2018 World all-around silver medalist and floor exercise bronze medalist, and a four-time
Japanese national all-around champion (2016–2018, 2020). She represented Japan at the
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
and
2020 Olympics
The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July.
Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...
, winning a bronze medal on
floor exercise
In gymnastics, the floor is a specially prepared exercise surface, which is considered an apparatus. It is used by both male and female gymnasts. The gymnastics event performed on the floor is called floor exercise. The English abbreviation for t ...
in the latter. This made her the first female Japanese gymnast to win an individual medal at the Olympics.
Personal life
Murakami was born in
Sagamihara
is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 723,470, with 334,812 households, and a population density of 1,220 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Sagamihara is the third-most-populous city ...
, Japan and began gymnastics when she was two years old.
She attended university at the
Nippon Sport Science University
, abbreviated as , is a private university in Setagaya, Tokyo and Aoba-ku, Yokohama. The precursor of the school was founded in 1893, and it was chartered as a university in 1949. The school is known for the many famous athletes among its alumni. ...
in Tokyo.
Career
2012-2013
Murakami made her senior debut at the 2012 National Championships where she placed eleventh in the all-around. She was not named to the
2012 Olympic team. Murakami competed at the 2012 Stuttgart World Cup where Japan finished second to Russia.
Murakami competed at the
2013 City of Jesolo Trophy where she won bronze with the Japanese team and placed 22nd in the all-around. She finished third in the all-around at both the National Championships and the NHK Cup. She finished fourth on the
floor exercise
In gymnastics, the floor is a specially prepared exercise surface, which is considered an apparatus. It is used by both male and female gymnasts. The gymnastics event performed on the floor is called floor exercise. The English abbreviation for t ...
at the
2013 World Championships.
2014-2015
Murakami competed at the
2014 Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships The 2014 Pacific Rim Championships were held from 9 April to 12 April 2014 in Richmond, British Columbia.
Overall medal table
Medalists
Artistic gymnastics
Men's events
Women's events
Rhythmic gymnastics
#^Medals were also awarded for ...
placing fourth with the team, sixth on floor, seventh on bars and beam, and ninth in the all-around. She placed sixth in the all-around at the National Championships and fourth at the NHK Cup. At the All Japan Championships, she won gold on floor and silver on vault. She was then selected to compete at the
2014 World Championships along with
Asuka Teramoto
is a Japanese gymnast.
Teramoto was born in Komaki, Aichi. Her first major international senior competition was the 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Tokyo, Japan. In the team all-around finals, she contributed on vaulting, uneven ...
,
Yu Minobe
is a Japanese artistic gymnast. She competed for the national team at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the Women's artistic team all-around and the 2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad an ...
,
Natsumi Sasada
is a Japanese artistic gymnast. She was part of the silver medalling team at the 2015 Summer Universiade where she also won a bronze medal in the individual all-around competition. Sasada also competed for Japan in the first ever Youth Olympic ...
,
Wakana Inoue
Wakana (written: 若菜, 若奈, 和可菜, 和可那, 和佳奈 or わかな in hiragana) is a feminine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include:
*, Japanese idol singer and a member of Japanese girl group Angerme
*, Japanese act ...
, and
Azumi Ishikura
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yū Koyama. Its story concerns the title character, a young woman brought up as part of a team of assassins, charged with killing the warlords that threaten the uneasy peace in Feudal Jap ...
, and they finished in eighth place. After the World Championships Murakami finished the season by placed fifth in the all-around at the Glasgow World and winning vault and floor at the Toyota International.
At the 2015 National Championships, Murakami struggled on beam and floor and placed tenth in the all-around. She placed eighth in the all-around at the NHK Cup, but at the Event Championships she won bronze on vault and gold on floor. Murakami was initially named an alternate for the
World Championships
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
, but an injury led to her joining the team.
The Japanese team placed fifth, and she placed sixth in the all-around, the best finish by a Japanese woman in six years.
2016
Murakami competed at the
American Cup
The American Cup (also known as the American Football Association Cup and the American Federation Cup) was the first major U.S. soccer competition open to teams beyond a single league. It was first held in 1885. In the 1910s, it gradually dec ...
where she placed sixth in the all-around. She then won the all-around at the National Championships in addition to winning gold on floor and bronze on vault and beam. At the NHK Cup, she finished second in the all-around behind
Asuka Teramoto
is a Japanese gymnast.
Teramoto was born in Komaki, Aichi. Her first major international senior competition was the 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Tokyo, Japan. In the team all-around finals, she contributed on vaulting, uneven ...
, and she won gold on floor and silver on vault. At the Event National Championships, she won gold on floor exercise and placed fourth on uneven bars. She was then named to represent
Japan at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Japan competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. Since the nation's official debut in 1912, Japanese athletes had appeared at every Summer Olympic Games in the modern era, except for two editions; the ...
along with
Asuka Teramoto
is a Japanese gymnast.
Teramoto was born in Komaki, Aichi. Her first major international senior competition was the 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Tokyo, Japan. In the team all-around finals, she contributed on vaulting, uneven ...
,
Aiko Sugihara
is a Japanese female artistic gymnast. She is the 2015 Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships, 2015 Asian team and all-around champion and uneven bars and floor exercise silver medalist. She is also the 2019 Summer Universiade champion with th ...
,
Yuki Uchiyama, and
Sae Miyakawa
is a Japanese artistic gymnast. She represented Japan at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics and won a bronze medal on the vault. She also competed at the 2015 World Championships where she finished fourth on the floor exercise and at the 2017 World ...
.
2016 Summer Olympics
Japan competed in the final subdivision of the
qualification round, and they qualified seventh into the team final, and individually Murakami qualified ninth into the all-around and eighth on floor exercise. The team then finished fourth in the
team final. Murakami placed fourteenth in the
all-around final with a score of 56.665. She then placed seventh in the
floor exercise final with a score of 14.533.
2017
Murakami won the all-around at the National Championships in addition to winning gold on beam and floor and winning silver on vault. She also won the all-around at the NHK Cup and won gold on beam and floor and bronze on vault and uneven bars. She was then automatically named to the
World Championship
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
team along with
Aiko Sugihara
is a Japanese female artistic gymnast. She is the 2015 Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships, 2015 Asian team and all-around champion and uneven bars and floor exercise silver medalist. She is also the 2019 Summer Universiade champion with th ...
. She then won silver on floor and placed fifth on vault at the Event National Championships.
At the
2017 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships
The 2017 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships was the forty-seventh edition of the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships. The competition was held from October 2–8, 2017, at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
The event marke ...
in
Montreal, Quebec
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pea ...
, Canada, she qualified first into the all-around final, ahead of American gymnast
Ragan Smith
Ragan Elizabeth Smith (born August 8, 2000) is an American collegiate gymnast. She is a five-time member of the United States women's national gymnastics team, US National Team (2014–2019). She is the 2017 U.S. National Gymnastics Championship ...
, but had a fall in the finals, and ended up in 4th place, one-tenth of a point behind the bronze medalist, Russia's
Elena Eremina. She redeemed herself in the
floor exercise
In gymnastics, the floor is a specially prepared exercise surface, which is considered an apparatus. It is used by both male and female gymnasts. The gymnastics event performed on the floor is called floor exercise. The English abbreviation for t ...
finals, where she placed first ahead of
Jade Carey
Jade Ashtyn Carey (born May 27, 2000) is an American artistic gymnast who represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Best known for her abilities on vault and floor exercise, she is the 2020 Olympic champion on floor e ...
and
Claudia Fragapane
Claudia Fragapane (born 24 October 1997) is a British artistic gymnast. She came to prominence at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, where she was the first English woman to win four gold medals in a single Games since 1930. In 2015, Fragapane was pa ...
. She is Japan's first World gold medalist on this event, and Japan's second World gold medalist on any women's gymnastics event, after
Keiko Tanaka-Ikeda
Keiko Tanaka-Ikeda (田中-池田 敬子, born Keiko Tanaka on November 11, 1933) is the first Japanese female gymnast to win a world title, which she accomplished on the balance beam in 1954 (by becoming first Asian female gymnast who win a worl ...
won the gold on the
balance beam
The balance beam is a rectangular artistic gymnastics apparatus and an event performed using the apparatus. Both the apparatus and the event are sometimes simply referred to as "beam". The English abbreviation for the event in gymnastics scoring i ...
in 1954.
Afterward, she won gold on floor and bronze on vault at the Toyota International.
2018
Murakami finished second at the
American Cup
The American Cup (also known as the American Football Association Cup and the American Federation Cup) was the first major U.S. soccer competition open to teams beyond a single league. It was first held in 1885. In the 1910s, it gradually dec ...
behind
Morgan Hurd
Morgan Elizabeth Hurd (born July 18, 2001) is an American artistic gymnast and a five-time member of the United States women's national team (2016–21). She is the 2017 World all-around champion and balance beam silver medalist and the 2018 ...
. She then won the all-around at the Tokyo World Cup. Then, she won the all-around at both the National Championships and the NHK Cup. She won gold on balance beam and floor exercise at the Event National Championships. At the
2018 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships
The 2018 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships was the 48th edition of the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships. The competition was held from October 25 – November 3, 2018, at the Aspire Dome, Aspire Academy Dome in Doha, Doha, Qatar.
It ...
in
Doha, Qatar
Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...
the Japanese team finished in sixth place. Individually, she finished second in the all-around final, behind
Simone Biles
Simone Arianne Biles (; born March 14, 1997) is an American artistic gymnast. Her seven Olympic medals tied with Shannon Miller for the most Olympic medals won by an American gymnast. Having won 25 World Championship medals, she is the most de ...
. It was the first women’s all-around silver medal in Japan’s history. She then won the bronze medal in the floor exercise final behind Biles and
Morgan Hurd
Morgan Elizabeth Hurd (born July 18, 2001) is an American artistic gymnast and a five-time member of the United States women's national team (2016–21). She is the 2017 World all-around champion and balance beam silver medalist and the 2018 ...
.
2019
Murakami won a bronze medal in the all-around at the
American Cup
The American Cup (also known as the American Football Association Cup and the American Federation Cup) was the first major U.S. soccer competition open to teams beyond a single league. It was first held in 1885. In the 1910s, it gradually dec ...
behind Americans
Leanne Wong
Leanne Ashley Wong (born September 20, 2003) is an American artistic gymnast. She was a member of the gold medal winning teams at the 2022 World Championships and the 2019 Pan American Games. She is the 2021 World all-around silver medalist ...
and
Grace McCallum
Grace Ann McCallum (born October 30, 2002) is an American artistic gymnast. She represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics and won a silver medal in the team event. She is the 2018 Pan American and 2018 Pacific Rim individual a ...
. Murakami missed the NHK Cup due to a back injury, but because of this, Murakami was deemed ineligible to make the Japanese team for the
World Championships
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
.
Murakami's petition was denied.
2020-2021
In February it was announced that Murakami would represent Japan at the
Tokyo World Cup taking place on April 4. However the event was cancelled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in Japan
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...
. Murakami returned to competition in September at the All-Japan Senior Championships, where she won gold in the all-around. In addition, she performed well enough to win medals on each of the individual events, including two additional golds on vault and floor. She next competed at the All-Japan Championships in December.
In April 2021, it was announced that she, along with Hatakeda Hitomi, Hiraiwa Yuna and Sugihara Aiko, would represent
Japan at Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The team finished in 5th place and Murakami finished 5th in the all-around.
On 2 August 2021, Murakami achieved a score of 14.166 for the
individual women's floor event and won bronze at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (tied with
Angelina Melnikova
Angelina Romanovna Melnikova ( rus, Ангели́на Рома́новна Ме́льникова, , ɐnɡʲɪˈlʲinə ˈmʲelʲnʲɪkəvə; born 18 July 2000) is a Russian artistic gymnast. With eleven Olympic and World medals, she is the jo ...
of
ROC who also won bronze). She became the first female Japanese gymnast to win an individual medal at the Olympics. This was also only the second time that Japan had won an Olympic medal on any women's gymnastics event, since finishing 3rd in the team compettion at the
1964 Olympics 1964 Olympics refers to both:
*The 1964 Winter Olympics
The 1964 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IX Olympic Winter Games (german: IX. Olympische Winterspiele) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1964 ( bar, Innschbruck 1964, label=Austro-Ba ...
which were also held in Tokyo.
In October 2021, Murakami competed at the
2021 World Championships
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...
, where she won gold on the floor exercise and bronze on the balance beam. After this achievement, she announced her retirement from gymnastics.
Competitive history
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murakami, Mai
1996 births
Living people
Japanese female artistic gymnasts
Gymnasts at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Olympic gymnasts of Japan
World champion gymnasts
Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
Gymnasts at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Olympic medalists in gymnastics
Olympic bronze medalists for Japan
Nippon Sport Science University alumni
21st-century Japanese women